Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

Radioisotopes

Laser cooling unlocks metal tracer

Nature Physics volume 19, pages 780–781 (2023)Cite this article

Subjects

Atom trap trace analysis has emerged as a powerful technique for detecting trace radioisotopes of noble gases. The successful application of the method to a calcium isotope now opens the possibility of extension to other metal isotopes.

Calcium-41 is produced in the upper lithosphere due to neutron capture by 40Ca, and has a half-life of around 99,000 years, which makes it an interesting isotope for tracer applications. Until now, the 41Ca abundance has been measured with accelerator mass spectrometry with applications in, for example, biomedical studies3, measuring thermal neutron flux4, and the long-term evaluation of the safety of waste concrete from nuclear facilities and repositories for nuclear waste5. For environmental applications, a sensitivity that is better than can be achieved with accelerator mass spectrometry is often required. For example, at sea level the expected 41Ca/Ca saturation limit for rocks that contain calcium is of order 8 × 10–15, but the initial 41Ca/Ca ratio can be much lower and varies over the surface of the Earth due to altitude, erosion and dilution in the oceans. This makes interpreting the 41Ca/Ca isotope ratio complicated. Because the 41Ca/Ca detection limit with accelerator mass spectrometry is of order 10–15 (ref. 6) — only slightly below the saturation limit — a more sensitive measurement technique is needed.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: A schematic representation of the ATTA technique.

References

  1. Chen, C. Y. et al. Science 286, 1139–1141 (1999).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Xia, T.-Y. et al. Nat. Phys. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-01969-w (2023).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Elmore, E., Bhattacharyya, M. H., Sacco-Gibson, N. & Peterson, D. P. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. B 52, 531–535 (1990).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  4. Merchel, S. et al. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. B 268, 1179–1184 (2010).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. Warwick, P. E., Croudace, I. W. & Hillegonds, D. J. Anal. Chem. 81, 1901–1906 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Fink, D., Middleton, R., Klein, J. & Sharma, P. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. B 47, 79–96 (1990).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. Fink, D., Klein, J. & Middleton, R. Nucl. Instrum. Methods Phys. Res. B 52, 572–582 (1990).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Moore, I. D. et al. Phys. Rev. Lett. 92, 153002 (2004).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. Mills, M. et al. Phys. Rev. A 96, 033402 (2017).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Eustice, S., Cassella, K. & Stamper-Kurn, D. Phys. Rev. A 102, 053327 (2020).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Huet, N., Pettens, M. & Bastin, T. Phys. Rev. A 92, 052507 (2015).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Photonics and Advanced Sensing and School of Physics, Chemistry and Earth Sciences, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia

    Rohan D. Glover

Authors
  1. Rohan D. Glover
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rohan D. Glover.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and Permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Glover, R.D. Laser cooling unlocks metal tracer. Nat. Phys. 19, 780–781 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-02021-7

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-023-02021-7

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing