  The non-resonant two-photon ionization of hydrogen-like ions is studied in
second-order perturbation theory, based on the Dirac equation. To carry out the
summation over the complete Coulomb spectrum, a Green function approach has
been applied to the computation of the ionization cross sections. Exact
second-order relativistic cross sections are compared with data as obtained
from a relativistic long-wavelength approximation as well as from the scaling
of non-relativistic results. For high-Z ions, the relativistic wavefunction
contraction may lower the two-photon ionization cross sections by a factor of
two or more, while retardation effects appear less pronounced but still give
rise to non-negligible contributions.
