We reply to the Viewpoint by Vatsa
and Mathur on our publication
reporting the observation of multiply charged atomic ions from argon
clusters doped with aromatic chromophores in a moderate nanosecond
laser field. Vatsa and Mathur raised three concerns about the proposed
explanation and offered additional ideas for the reported process.
We agree with some of their concerns and welcome the addition of information,
and we also clarify a few misunderstandings of our intention, perhaps
caused by our implicit assumption of contextual relations. While the
experimental results are indisputable, the interpretation is still
a topic of debate, subject to further experimental investigations
and theoretical modeling.