Ar-39 Detection at the 10^-16 Isotopic Abundance Level with Atom Trap Trace Analysis
Atomic Physics
2011-03-14 v1 Nuclear Experiment
Abstract
Atom Trap Trace Analysis (ATTA), a laser-based atom counting method, has been applied to analyze atmospheric Ar-39 (half-life = 269 yr), a cosmogenic isotope with an isotopic abundance of 8x10^-16. In addition to the superior selectivity demonstrated in this work, counting rate and efficiency of ATTA have been improved by two orders of magnitude over prior results. Significant applications of this new analytical capability lie in radioisotope dating of ice and water samples and in the development of dark matter detectors.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.1101.2933,
title = {Ar-39 Detection at the 10^-16 Isotopic Abundance Level with Atom Trap Trace Analysis},
author = {W. Jiang and W. D. Williams and K. Bailey and A. M. Davis and S. -M. Hu and Z. -T. Lu and T. P. O'Connor and R. Purtschert and N. C. Sturchio and Y. R. Sun and P. Mueller},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1101.2933},
year = {2011}
}