DabATTA
ATTA - Database
The ATTA project at the University of Heidelberg is a cooperation of the group of Markus Oberthaler from the Kirchhoff Institute of Physics and Werner Aeschbach from the Institute of Environmental Physics and uses a quantum mechanical measurement method to answer questions in environmental physics.
ATTA stands for Atom Trap Trace Analysis and refers to the measurement methodology based on trapping and counting individual atoms by lasers and magnetic fields. This methodology is necessary when isotopes, which are to be used for the investigation of systems in the environment (especially water systems), occur only very rarely and therefore an age determination is not possible over conventional methods (for 39Ar: Ratio of the interesting isotope is equal to the surface of a 1€ coin to the surface of Germany).
The ATTA technique was developed by Z.-T. Lu's group for age determination with 81Kr [C Y. Chen et al., 1999] and has been used since 2008 in Heidelberg for age determination of 39Ar [Welte, 2011]. This can be used to determine the age of ice, groundwater, ocean water, or permafrost in a time range of 50-1000 years, providing important insights into the dynamics in these systems. A first impression of the work at ATTA and our laboratory can be gained in a short video about the age determination of beer, which can be found on the following page: https://www.synqs.org/project/water-dating/.
Werner Aeschbach
Julian Robertz
Niclas Mandaric
