Time-resolved Recombination by Attosecond-controlled High Harmonic Generation

We theoretically investigate the coherent control of strong-field high-harmonic generation in the presence of an isolated attosecond pulse. It is found that the rapid modulation of the controlled signal exhibits interference fringe structures in the delay-dependent spectra. By comparing the classical trajectory model with quantum mechanical calculation, it is demonstrated that the fringes are resulted from the interference between the photon- and the tunnelling-initiated recombination pathways. The relative recombination times for the two paths are reconstructed from the interference fringes, which provides a novel scheme for optical observation of the interplay of the photionization and tunneling ionization electron dynamics in attosecond resolution.