Coulomb-laser coupling in laser-assisted photoionization and molecular tomography

Using the example of laser-assisted photoionization, we analyse the interplay of an intense laser field and the atomic/molecular potential during the electron motion after ionization. We give conditions to determine when the electron's oscillations in the strong laser field are approximately decoupled from its acceleration in the ionic potential, and when they are not. Excellent agreement between analytical and numerical results allows us to assess the recipes for analysing interference structures in high harmonic generation in molecules.