title: Ultrasensitive isotope trace analyses with a magneto-optical trap
abstract: Laser manipulation of neutral atoms has been used to count individual krypton-85 and krypton-81 atoms present in a natural krypton gas sample with isotopic abundances in the range of 10(-11) and 10(-13), respectively. This method of isotope trace analysis is free of contamination from other isotopes and elements and can be applied to several different isotope tracers for a wide range of applications. The demonstrated detection efficiency is 1 x 10(-7). System improvements could increase the efficiency by many orders of magnitude.
authors.affiliation: Physics Division, and Chemistry Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439, USA.
authors.initials: CY
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.initials: YM
authors.lastname: Li
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Bailey
authors.initials: TP
authors.lastname: O'Connor
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Young
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Lu