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Science 5 November 1999:
Vol. 286. no. 5442, pp. 1139 - 1141
DOI: 10.1126/science.286.5442.1139
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Reports

Ultrasensitive Isotope Trace Analyses with a Magneto-Optical Trap

C. Y. Chen, 1 Y. M. Li, 1 K. Bailey, 1 T. P. O'Connor, 1 L. Young, 2 Z.-T. Lu 1*

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 × 10-7. System improvements could increase the efficiency by many orders of magnitude.

1 Physics Division, and
2 Chemistry Division, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, IL 60439, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: lu{at}anl.gov

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Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)