Reply to 'Comment on 'Quasicontinuum modeling of photoassociation''

In the preceding Comment [Phys. Rev. A 65, 027401 (2002)], the authors maintain that we have used incorrect initial conditions in our calculations on photoassociation of a thermal, nondegenerate gas [Phys. Rev. A 58, R789 (1998)], and that our conclusion that stimulated Raman adiabatic passage (STIRAP) is absent in two-color photoassociation is therefore invalid. We refute the technical argument of the Comment. Nonetheless, corresponding to the fact that in quantum mechanics the decomposition of a mixed state into pure states is not unique, the question of the presence or absence of STIRAP turns out to be a matter of semantics