On the role of the Coulomb potential in strong field atomic ionization dynamics

In this paper, we present a model aimed at exploring the role of the Coulomb potential in the mechanism of ionization of atomic hydrogen exposed to a strong low frequency pulsed laser field. Our approach is based on the solution of the time-dependent Schrödinger equation in momentum space. Although we are in a frequency and intensity regime where tunnelling is expected to dominate, our results indicate that the atomic structure associated to the Coulomb potential plays a significant role for low energy ejected electrons.