Characterization of a cryogenically cooled high-pressure gas jet for laser/cluster interaction experiments

We have developed and carried out detailed characterization of a cryogenically cooled ~34–300 K!, high-pressure ~55 kTorr! solenoid driven pulsed valve that has been used to produce dense jets of atomic clusters for high intensity laser interaction studies. Measurements including Rayleigh scattering and short pulse interferometry show that clusters of controlled size, from a few to .10 atoms/cluster can be produced from a broad range of light and heavy gases, at average atomic densities up to 4310 atoms/cc. Continuous temperature and pressure control of the valve allows us to vary mean cluster size while keeping the average atomic density constant, and we find that many aspects of the valves behavior are consistent with ideal gas laws. However, we also show that effects including the build up of flow on milliseconds time scales, the cooling of gas flowing into the valve, and condensation of gas inside the valve body at temperatures well above the liquefaction point need to be carefully characterized in order to decouple the operation of the jet from the laser interaction physics. © 1998 American Institute of Physics. @S0034-6748~98!01011-9#