Abstract
A numerical analysis using the resolvent-operator method shows that the space and time localization of ionization is in fact the key needed to understand the residual population that is left in the excited state in Stark-induced resonant multiphoton ionization. The two viewpoints recently opposed in the literature [Optics and Photonics News 3, 22 (1992) G. N. Gibson, R. R. Freeman, and T. J. McIllrath] are therefore compatible. However, the excited-state population can easily be destroyed if the resonance intensity or the pulse duration is increased.