We perform a detailed analysis of how the interplay between the residual
binding potential and a strong laser field influences above-threshold
ionization (ATI), employing a semi-analytical, Coulomb-corrected strong-field
approximation (SFA) in which the Coulomb potential is incorporated in the
electron propagation in the continuum. We find that the Coulomb interaction
lifts the degeneracy of some SFA trajectories, and we identify a set of orbits
which, for high enough photoelectron energies, may be associated with
rescattering. Furthermore, by performing a direct comparison with the standard
SFA, we show that several features in the ATI spectra can be traced back to the
influence of the Coulomb potential on different electron trajectories. These
features include a decrease in the contrast, a shift towards lower energies in
the interference substructure, and an overall increase in the photoelectron
yield. All features encountered exhibit a very good agreement with the \emph{ab
initio} solution of the time-dependent Schr\"odinger equation.Comment: 12 pages, 10 figure
