Limits of Strong Field Rescattering in the Relativistic Regime

Recollision for a laser driven atomic system is investigated in the relativistic regime via a strong field quantum description and Monte Carlo semiclassical approach. We find the relativistic recollision energy cutoff is independent of the ponderomotive potential Up, in contrast to the well-known 3.2Up scaling. The relativistic recollision energy cutoff is determined by the ionization potential of the atomic system and achievable with non-negligible recollision flux before entering a "rescattering free" interaction. The ultimate energy cutoff is limited by the available intensities of short wavelength lasers and cannot exceed a few thousand Hartree, setting a boundary for recollision based attosecond physics.