• Featured in Physics
  • Editors' Suggestion

Ar39 Detection at the 1016 Isotopic Abundance Level with Atom Trap Trace Analysis

W. Jiang, W. Williams, K. Bailey, A. M. Davis, S.-M. Hu, Z.-T. Lu, T. P. O’Connor, R. Purtschert, N. C. Sturchio, Y. R. Sun, and P. Mueller
Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 103001 – Published 9 March 2011
Physics logo See Synopsis: Clocking the last century

Abstract

Atom trap trace analysis, a laser-based atom counting method, has been applied to analyze atmospheric Ar39 (half-life=269yr), a cosmogenic isotope with an isotopic abundance of 8×1016. In addition to the superior selectivity demonstrated in this work, the counting rate and efficiency of atom trap trace analysis have been improved by 2 orders of magnitude over prior results. The significant applications of this new analytical capability lie in radioisotope dating of ice and water samples and in the development of dark matter detectors.

  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Figure
  • Received 13 December 2010

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.103001

© 2011 American Physical Society

Synopsis

Key Image

Clocking the last century

Published 9 March 2011

Atom trap analysis has reached new sensitivity limits in measuring the abundance of argon-39, a desirable isotope for dating environmental samples on the time scale of a few hundred years.

See more in Physics

Authors & Affiliations

W. Jiang1, W. Williams1, K. Bailey1, A. M. Davis2,3, S.-M. Hu4, Z.-T. Lu1,2,5, T. P. O’Connor1, R. Purtschert6, N. C. Sturchio7, Y. R. Sun4, and P. Mueller1

  • 1Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA
  • 2Enrico Fermi Institute, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
  • 3Department of Geophysical Sciences, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
  • 4Hefei National Laboratory for Physical Sciences at the Microscale, University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, Anhui 230026, China
  • 5Department of Physics, University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA
  • 6Climate and Environmental Physics, University of Bern, CH-3012 Bern, Switzerland
  • 7Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60607, USA

Article Text (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand

References (Subscription Required)

Click to Expand
Issue

Vol. 106, Iss. 10 — 11 March 2011

Reuse & Permissions
Access Options
CHORUS

Article Available via CHORUS

Download Accepted Manuscript

Authorization Required


×
×

Images

×

Sign up to receive regular email alerts from Physical Review Letters

Log In

Cancel
×

Search


Article Lookup

Paste a citation or DOI

Enter a citation
×