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<p>The lowest detectable abundances with accelerator mass spectrometry remain limited by persistent background interferences from atomic and molecular isobars as well as neighbouring isotopes. Such interference is eliminated by laser-based atom trap trace analysis that captures individual atoms through resonant photon scattering. Its detection limit solely depends on the atom counting rate and data acquisition duration. Here we report the direct detection of atmospheric <sup>42</sup>Ar at an isotopic abundance level of 10<sup>−21</sup> by combining atom trap trace analysis with an isotope pre-enrichment process, achieving a detection limit several orders of magnitude beyond existing methods. Our measurement consumed only 10 l of argon at standard temperature and pressure. This result demonstrates a powerful tool for detecting isotopes at previously inaccessible abundance levels, with implications for environmental dating and background characterization in next-generation liquid-argon detectors.</p>

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Detection of atmospheric 42Ar at the 10−21 level by atom counting

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年4月14日

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  • Z.-F. Wan,
  • J. W. Liang,
  • Z. H. Jia,
  • W. Jiang,
  • Z.-T. Lu,
  • L. T. Sun,
  • G. M. Yang

摘要

The lowest detectable abundances with accelerator mass spectrometry remain limited by persistent background interferences from atomic and molecular isobars as well as neighbouring isotopes. Such interference is eliminated by laser-based atom trap trace analysis that captures individual atoms through resonant photon scattering. Its detection limit solely depends on the atom counting rate and data acquisition duration. Here we report the direct detection of atmospheric 42Ar at an isotopic abundance level of 10−21 by combining atom trap trace analysis with an isotope pre-enrichment process, achieving a detection limit several orders of magnitude beyond existing methods. Our measurement consumed only 10 l of argon at standard temperature and pressure. This result demonstrates a powerful tool for detecting isotopes at previously inaccessible abundance levels, with implications for environmental dating and background characterization in next-generation liquid-argon detectors.