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Updated: Aug 12, 2026

Cooling an Optically Trapped Ultracold Fermi Gas by Periodical Driving
Published on: March 30, 2017
Counting individual 41Ca atoms with a magneto-optical trap
I D Moore1, K Bailey, J Greene
1Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA. iain.moore@phys.jyu.fi
Abstract:
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(-8) and 10(-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 2x10(-7). Within 1 h of observation time, its 3-sigma detection limit on the isotopic abundance of 41Ca reaches 4.5x10(-10).
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