  The yield of neutral excited atoms and low-energy photoelectrons generated by
the electron dynamics in the combined Coulomb and laser field after tunneling
is investigated. We present results of Monte-Carlo simulations built on the
two-step semiclassical model, as well as analytic estimates and scaling
relations for the population trapping into the Rydberg states. It is shown that
mainly those electrons are captured into bound states of the neutral atom that
due to their initial conditions (i) have moderate drift momentum imparted by
the laser field and (ii) avoid strong interaction ("hard" collision) with the
ion. In addition, it is demonstrated that the channel of capture, when
accounted for in semiclassical calculations, has a pronounced effect on the
momentum distribution of electrons with small positive energy. For the
parameters that we investigated its presence leads to a dip at zero momentum in
the longitudinal momentum distribution of the ionized electrons.
