Successive capture and coagulation of atoms and molecules to small clusters in large liquid helium clusters

Abstract

The multiple pickup of up to 30 foreign particles by large (N≳103 atoms) liquid helium clusters and the formation of clusters of the foreign particles within the helium cluster has been observed in a molecular beam experiment for Ar, Kr, Xe, H2O, and SF6. Evaporation of helium atoms due to the pickup process has been measured quantitatively by two methods. The measured apparent cross sections for capture and coagulation of these particles are significantly smaller than the total scattering cross sections of the clusters. After electron impact ionization the size distribution of the foreign particle cluster ion fragments can be well described by a Poisson distribution. This is interpreted as indicating negligible fragmentation of the coagulated foreign particle clusters. The measured coagulation cross sections are smaller than the capture cross sections. This is explained through a model which involves only partial coagulation of the foreign particles. The observed processes allow the preparation of foreign particle clusters with well-defined size distributions inside large helium clusters.