Reply to “Comment on ‘Photodetachment in combined static and dynamic electric fields’ ”

While distortion of the initial negative-ion state by a strong static electric field can have observable effects, the effect attributed by the authors of the preceding Comment [Phys. Rev. A 64, 037401 (2001)] to a cross term between the detaching laser field and the static field is spurious, an artifact of their procedures. Other points of dispute are also clarified. © 2001 The American Physical Society