2003/10/09 by I. D. Moore, K. Bailey, J. Greene +12 · 1 citation
Chemistry · Environmental Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Analytical Chemistry (journal) #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Atomic physics #Chemistry #Isotope Analysis in Ecology #Physics #Radioactive Decay and Measurement Techniques #physics.atom-ph #physics.bio-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.92.153002
arxiv created 2003/10/09 · openalex publication_date 2004/04/14 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Atom trap trace analysis, a novel method based upon laser trapping and cooling, is used to count individual atoms of 41Ca present in biomedical samples with isotopic abundance levels between 10^\ensuremath-8 and 10^\ensuremath-10. The method is calibrated against resonance ionization mass spectrometry, demonstrating good agreement between the two methods. The present system has a counting efficiency of 2\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi10^\ensuremath-7. Within 1 h of observation time, its 3\mathrm\text\ensuremath-\ensuremathσ detection limit on the isotopic abundance of 41Ca reaches 4.5\ifmmode×\else\texttimes\fi10^\ensuremath-10.