Coulomb asymmetry in above-threshold ionization

A new method for including effects of the Coulomb potential in strong-field laser atom interaction is presented. The model is tested by comparing its results with experimental data of energy resolved angular distributions of photoelectrons. For elliptical polarization these exhibit a strong asymmetry. Our theory shows that this strong asymmetry for the low-energy electrons is induced by a small Coulomb force acting on the tunneling electron just after the exit of the tunnel. This is in contrast to the situation for high electron energies where the asymmetry arises via rescattering by the parent ion.