Radiochemical experiments, conducted deep beneath Earth’s surface to shield out cosmic rays, have revealed much new information about the Sun and about the properties of neutrinos (electrically neutral, virtually massless particles) emitted from its active core. In large vats filled with solutions rich in chlorine atoms, the flux from the boron-8 (⁸B) source of solar neutrinos can convert a few of the chlorine-37 (³⁷Cl) atoms to argon-37 (³⁷Ar) atoms with a half-life of 35 days. These atoms can then be detected by nuclear decay counting to determine the flux of the high-energy neutrinos striking Earth. A similar experiment for detecting the much larger flux of the beryllium-7 (⁷Be) neutrinos of lower energy can now be done because of the ability to count a small number of krypton-81 atoms produced by neutrino capture in bromine-81 (⁸¹Br). Since the atoms are counted directly without waiting for radioactive decay, the 210,000-year half-life of krypton-81 is not an impediment.

Thermal atomization

Because the RIS technique is limited to the study of free atoms or molecules in the gas phase, the analysis of solids and liquids requires a means for releasing atoms from the bulk material. A simple and effective system atomizes samples with a graphite oven, as illustrated in Figure 16. A small solid or liquid sample is placed into the graphite oven, which is electrically heated to more than 2,000 °C. As the sample evaporates, it dissociates into a plume containing free atoms, some of which are ionized with pulsed RIS. The RIS scheme shown in Figure 16, which is similar to that of Figure 14C, accomplishes the final stage in the ionization process by pulsing an electric field onto the atoms in a high Rydberg state. Following ion extraction, mass analysis is performed with a time-of-flight technique to eliminate isobars and unwanted molecular ion fragments.

Substantial work is accomplished with thermal atomization methods. With detection limits of less than one part per trillion, the graphite furnace version can be installed aboard ships to explore the ocean for metals such as gold, platinum, and rhodium. In another important application to the Earth sciences, the furnace technique is used to study the rhodium content of geologic samples associated with the great Mesozoic extinction of 65.5 million years ago. Correlation of the concentrations of rhodium and iridium, the latter determined by neutron-activation analysis, has provided much support to the theory that the high concentration of iridium found in the Cretaceous-Tertiary, or Cretaceous-Paleogene, boundary was caused by a large body of cosmic origin falling on Earth. Analysis of samples taken from this boundary show that the ratio of iridium to rhodium is about the same as the ratio found in meteorites, and this strengthens the theory that a cosmic body striking Earth caused mass extinction of the biological species associated with the Mesozoic Era, including the dinosaurs.

Filamentary heating methods also are utilized for important geologic research. For instance, the age of rocks is determined by measuring the amounts of isotopes of rhenium and osmium. The isotope rhenium-187 (¹⁸⁷Re) decays to osmium-187 (¹⁸⁷Os) having a half-life of 43 billion years; hence, the Re-Os system can be used to determine when geologic materials were solidified in Earth.

Thermal techniques are producing significant practical results in the exploration of natural resources, medical research and treatment, and environmental research. An especially impressive example of exploration is taking place in China, where RIS is used to sample gold, platinum, and other precious metals in water streams to locate ore deposits. Since the average concentration of gold in fresh water is only 0.03 part per billion, the analytical methods employed must be extremely sensitive and selective against other species in the sample.

Sputter atomization

When energetic particles (such as 20-keV [thousand electron volts] argon ions) strike the surface of a solid, neutral atoms and secondary charged particles are ejected from the target in a process called sputtering. In the secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) method, these secondary ions are used to gain information about the target material (see mass spectrometry: Secondary-ion emission). In contrast, the sputter-initiated RIS (SIRIS) method takes advantage of the much more numerous neutral atoms emitted in the sputtering process. In SIRIS devices the secondary ions are rejected because the yield of these ions can be greatly affected by the composition of the host material (known as the matrix effect). Ion sputtering, in contrast to thermal atomization, can be turned on or off in short pulses; for this reason, good temporal overlap with the RIS beams is achievable. This feature allows better use of small samples.

Analysis of high-purity semiconducting materials for the electronics industry is one of the principal applications of the SIRIS method. The method can detect, for example, indium in silicon at the one part per trillion level. The high efficiency of the pulsed sputtering method makes it possible to record one count due to indium at the detector for only four atoms of indium sputtered from the solid silicon target. Analyses of interfaces are of growing importance as electronic circuits become more compact, and in such designs matrix effects are of great concern. Matrix effects are negligible when using the SIRIS method for depth-profiling a gold-coated silicon dioxide–indium phosphide (SiO₂/InP) sample.

RIS methods are applied in the study of basic physical and chemical phenomena in the surface sciences. Knowledge of the interactions of energetic particle beams with surfaces is important in several areas, such as chemical modification of electronics materials, ion etching, ion implantation, and surface chemical kinetics. For these applications, RIS provides the capability to identify and measure the neutral species released from surfaces in response to stimulation with ion probes, laser beams, or other agents.

Other applications of the SIRIS method are made in medicine, biology, environmental research, geology, and natural resource exploration. Sequencing of the DNA molecule is a significant biological application, which requires that spatial resolution be incorporated into the measurement system. SIRIS has also been increasingly used in the imaging of neutral atoms.