  By performing a joint theoretical and experimental investigation on the
high-order above-threshold ionization (HATI) spectrum, the dominant role of the
3rd-return-recollision trajectories in the region near the cutoff due to the
ionic Coulomb field is identified. This invalidates the key assumption adopted
in the conventional laser-induced electron diffraction (LIED) approach that the
1st-returnrecollision trajectories dominate the spectrum according to strong
field approximation (SFA). Our results show that the incident (return) electron
beams produced by the 1st and 3rd returns possess distinct characteristics of
beam energy, beam diameter and temporal evolution law due to the influence of
Coulomb field, and therefore the extracted results in the LIED will be altered
if the significance of the 3rd-return-recollision trajectories is properly
considered in the analysis. Such Coulomb field effect should be taken into
account in all kinds of laser-induced imaging schemes based on recollision.
