Generation of attosecond pulses in electron-ion recombination processes

Full text: We consider electron-ion recombination in the presence of a very short laser pulse and we analyze the spectrum of x-rays generated during this process. In particular, we investigate the development of the x-ray spectrum as a function of time within the duration of the laser pulse. We compare our results with the spectra we obtained in our earlier work on this topic, describing the laser pulse by an electromagnetic plane wave and we also relate our results to our classical investigation of this process based on Bohr's correspondence principle. As we can show, our classical model of laser-assisted electron-ion recombination can still be successfully applied in the case of a very short laser pulse of a few cycles. (author)