# Detection of atomic nuclear reaction products via optical imaging

## TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel optical imaging method to measure low-yield nuclear reaction cross sections by embedding reaction products in cryogenic noble gas solids and detecting them via laser-induced fluorescence, enabling single-atom sensitivity.

## Contribution

The paper presents a new technique combining cryogenic noble gas solids, laser fluorescence, and superresolution imaging for highly sensitive nuclear reaction product detection.

## Key findings

- Feasible single atom detection using optical imaging.
- High selectivity and near-unity efficiency in detecting reaction products.
- Potential application to astrophysically relevant nuclear reaction rates.

## Abstract

In this paper we propose a new method for measuring the cross section of low yield nuclear reactions by capturing the products in a cryogenically frozen noble gas solid. Once embedded in the noble gas solid, which is optically transparent, the product atoms can be selectively identified by laser induced fluorescence and individually counted via optical imaging to determine the cross section. Single atom sensitivity by optical imaging is feasible because the surrounding lattice of noble gas atoms facilitates a large wavelength shift between the excitation and emission spectrum of the product atoms. The tools and techniques from the fields of single molecule spectroscopy and superresolution imaging in combination with an electromagnetic recoil separator, for beam and isotopic differentiation, allow for a detection scheme with near unity efficiency, a high degree of selectivity, and single atom sensitivity. This technique could be used to determine a number of astrophysically important nuclear reaction rates.