Among many of the nonlinear phenomena induced by strong laser pulses, two of the important processes are the harmonic generation and the creation of neutral atoms in the Rydberg states. We carry out a joint study of the below-threshold high-order-harmonic (BTH) generation and the production of low-lying Rydberg atoms driven by an intense few-cycle midinfrared laser pulse. Our results are based on the numerical solution to the three-dimensional time-dependent Schrodinger equation within the single active electron approximation and a semiclassical simulation. The yields of BTH and low-lying Rydberg atoms are found to have a similar carrier envelope phase dependence. We find that both processes can be faithfully described semiclassically in the deep tunneling regime. The trajectory analysis shows that these two processes share the same series of trajectories and can be simultaneously manipulated by the driving pulse shape. Our finding bridges the below-threshold high-order-harmonic generation and the frustrated tunneling ionization.
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