High Efficiency Noble Gas Trace Analysis employing a magneto-optical trap for Earth Sciences and Non-proliferation Studies

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Klaus Sengstock, since 4/2012
• Subject Area: Optics, Quantum Optics and Physics of Atoms, Molecules and Plasmas
• Term: from 2010 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 165353430

The idea of this project is to realize a high efficient laser atom trap with single atom detection capability for rare gas trace analysis with several groundbreaking applications in Earth sciences and nuclear non-proliferation. Compared to other methods of rare gas analysis the sample size can be reduced by two orders of magnitude allowing for new applications not accessible to current standard methods. We will concentrate on rare krypton isotopes for its wide area of important applications and its relatively good accessibility to laser cooling techniques. In the first 3-year funding period proposed here, we will concentrate on the instrumental development and first pilot studies demonstrating the applicability of small sample sizes and high temporal resolution in different fields of science as diverse as groundwater research, nuclear non-proliferation verification and meteorological model validation.The high efficiency of the proposed system will be based on a unique combination of a 2- and 3-dimensional magneto-optical atom trap with direct optical excitation of the noble gas atoms. We will determine the concentration of the isotope of interest by measuring its ratio with respect to an isotope with known concentration. To reduce systematic errors and measurement time, the system is especially designed for counting both isotopes simultaneously. Special care will be taken to extract the measured sample unaltered for reuse for better statistics, laboratory intercomparison exercises, calibration of samples, use with other analyzing techniques and archival storage.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• Major Instrumentation: Gas analysis vacuum system
• Instrumentation Group: 1520 Meßgeräte für Gase (O2, CO2)
• Ehemaliger Antragsteller: Professor Dr. Martin Kalinowski, until 3/2012