Response to Comment on "Insulator-metal transition in dense fluid deuterium".

In their comment, Desjarlais claim that a small temperature drop occurs after isentropic compression of fluid deuterium through the first-order insulator-metal transition. We show that their calculations do not correspond to the experimental thermodynamic path, and that thermodynamic integrations with parameters from first-principles calculations produce results in agreement with our original estimate of the temperature drop.

Insulator-metal transition in dense fluid deuterium.

Dense fluid metallic hydrogen occupies the interiors of Jupiter, Saturn, and many extrasolar planets, where pressures reach millions of atmospheres. Planetary structure models must describe accurately the transition from the outer molecular envelopes to the interior metallic regions. We report optical measurements of dynamically compressed fluid deuterium to 600 gigapascals (GPa) that reveal an increasing refractive index, the onset of absorption of visible light near 150 GPa, and a transition to metal-like reflectivity (exceeding 30%) near 200 GPa, all at temperatures below 2000 kelvin.

Posterior C1C2 harms fusion with 3D surgical navigation.

Several types of atlantoaxial instability can justify surgical fixation. The instrumented fusion procedure described by Harms with screw fixation of the C1 lateral masses and C2 pedicles is a demanding technique that provides lasting stabilization. However, it has been associated with nerve and vascular complications due to the local anatomical configuration.

Endopelvic Approach for Iliac Crest Bone Harvesting.

Background: The anterior approach to lumbar spine surgery has grown in popularity in the past few years; spinal fusion of the last 2 lumbar levels is often required. Although alternatives to bone grafting are available, including recombinant human bone morphogenetic protein 2 or bone substitutes, only cancellous autologous bone has all the required factors for bone growth. To avoid the use of bone substitutes, remote iliac crest bone harvesting remains the gold standard.

CT analysis of C2 pedicles morphology and considerations of useful parameters for screwing.

Introduction: Surgery of cervical spine steadily requires realizing posterior osteosynthesis. The anchoring of instrumentation in C2 steadily constitutes an important stake of prognosis. Pedicle screwing is one of the best options and remains associated with a low morbidity.

Hydrodynamic study of plasma amplifiers for soft-x-ray lasers: a transition in hydrodynamic behavior for plasma columns with widths ranging from 20 μm to 2 mm.

Plasma-based seeded soft-x-ray lasers have the potential to generate high energy and highly coherent short pulse beams. Due to their high density, plasmas created by the interaction of an intense laser with a solid target should store the highest amount of energy density among all plasma amplifiers. Our previous numerical work with a two-dimensional (2D) adaptive mesh refinement hydrodynamic code demonstrated that careful tailoring of plasma shapes leads to a dramatic enhancement of both soft-x-ray laser output energy and pumping efficiency.

Characterization of the preformed plasma for high-intensity laser-plasma interaction.

The interaction of a very intense, very short laser pulse is modified by the presence of a preformed plasma prior to the main short pulse. The preformed plasma is created by a small prepulse interacting with the target prior to the main pulse. The prepulse has been monitored using a water-cell-protected fast photodiode allowing on every shot a high dynamic measurement of the pulse profile.

Density measurement of shock compressed foam using two-dimensional x-ray radiography.

We have used spherically bent quartz crystal to image a laser-generated shock in a foam medium. The foam targets had a density of 0.16 g/cm(3) and thickness of 150 microm, an aluminum/copper pusher drove the shock.

Hartmann wave-front measurement at 13.4 nm with lambdaEUV/120 accuracy.

We report, for the first time to our knowledge, experimental demonstration of wave-front analysis via the Hartmann technique in the extreme ultraviolet range. The reference wave front needed to calibrate the sensor was generated by spatially filtering a focused undulator beam with 1.7- and 0.