Routes to Control of Intense-Field Atomic Polarizability

When atoms or molecules interact with intense bichromatic laser light, the relative optical phase between the two colors influences the formation of an electron wave packet in the continuum, further motion of the wave packet, and the phase accumulated by the wave packet on its trajectory. We show how the control over the wave packet motion can be used to generate single subfemtosecond pulses in the extreme ultraviolet spectral region. We also demonstrate control over the phase of the atomic polarizability.