Bimodal velocity and size distributions of pulsed superfluid helium droplet beams.

We report detailed measurements of velocities and sizes of superfluid helium droplets produced from an Even-Lavie pulse valve at stagnation pressures of 20-60 atm and temperatures between 5.7 and 18.0 K. By doping neutral droplets with Rhodamine 6G cations produced from an electrospray ionization source and detecting the positively charged droplets at two different locations along the beam path, we determine the velocities of the different groups of droplets. By subjecting the doped droplet beam to a retardation field, size distributions can then be analyzed. We discover that at stagnation temperatures above 8.0 K, a single group of droplets is observed at both locations, but at 8.0 K and below, two different groups of droplets with different velocities are detectable. The slower group, considered from fragmentation of liquid helium, cannot be deterred by the retardation voltage at 9 kV, implying an exceedingly large size. The faster group, considered from condensation of gaseous helium, has a bimodal distribution when the stagnation temperatures are below 12.3 K at 20 and 40 atm, or 16.1 K at 60 atm. We also report similar size measurements using low energy electrons for impact ionization, and this latter method can be used for facile in situ characterization of pulsed droplet beams. The mechanism of the bimodal size distribution of the condensation group and the reason for the coexistence of both the condensation and fragmentation groups remain elusive.