Method for counting noble gas atoms with isotopic selectivity

A method has been developed for direct counting of noble gas atoms and has been demonstrated for selected isotopes of krypton. In principle, a few atoms of the noble gases argon, krypton, xenon and radon can now be counted with isotopic selectivity whether stable or radioactive. A concept was originated in which a laser method would be used to count noble gas atoms of a particular isotope that are moving freely in an enclosure. As the concept developed, a parallel with Maxwell's sorting demon became quite obvious since the plan was to sort out only atoms of a given type (Z selection), e.g. krypton atoms, from any other atom in the enclosure and then to sort the atom by isotope (A selection) before removing the atoms from the gas compartment. The plan was to count each atom as it was stored in a target until all atoms were counted.