Abstract
We have perforated a series of experiments to study cavitation in superfluid helium into which electrons are injected by field-emission from a sharp tip. The injected electrons force open small cavities in the liquid (“electron bubble”). These objects explode at a critical negative pressure P c, and in previous experiments we have studied the cavitation that resugts from these explosions. In the present experiments we have detected cavitation events that occur before a negative pressure as large as P c is reached. We suggest that these events may arise from a process in which two neutral helium dimers interact and an electron is injected into the liquid through Penning ionization.
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Ghosh, A., Maris, H. Cavitation in Superfluid Helium Possibly Arising from Penning Ionization of Dimers. Journal of Low Temperature Physics 134, 251–256 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOLT.0000012563.18306.7d
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1023/B:JOLT.0000012563.18306.7d