The selectivity and spectral resolution of traditional laser-based trace isotope analysis, i.e., resonance ionization mass spectrometry (RIMS), is limited by power broadening of the radiative transition. We use the fact that power broadening does not occur in coherently driven quantum systems when the probing and excitation processes are temporally separated to demonstrate significant improvement of trace element detection, even under conditions of strong signals. Specifically, we apply a coherent variant of RIMS to the detection of traces of molecular nitric oxide (NO) isobars. For large laser intensities, the detected isotope signal can be increased by almost 1 order of magnitude without any loss in spectral resolution.

• Received 1 August 2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.97.243004