  Free-electron lasers (FELs) produce short and very intense light pulses in
the XUV and x-ray regimes. We investigate the possibility to drive Rabi
oscillations in xenon with an intense FEL pulse by using the unusually large
dipole strength of the giant-dipole resonance (GDR). The GDR decays within less
than 30 as due to its position, which is above the $4d$ ionization threshold.
We find that intensities around 10$^{18}$ W/cm$^2$ are required to induce Rabi
oscillations with a period comparable to the lifetime. The pulse duration
should not exceed 100 as because xenon will be fully ionized within a few
lifetimes. Rabi oscillations reveal themselves also in the photoelectron
spectrum in form of Autler-Townes splittings extending over several tens of
electronvolt.
