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Clustering of polar molecules (SO2) in a supersonic jet was investigated by simulation. The cluster size Nc was calculated under different gas backing pressures P0 and source temperatures T0. Based on these results, the dependence of Nc on P0 or T0 was compared with that for the gases of non-polar molecules. It is found that SO2 molecules condense very easily into clusters even when P0 is very low. This result implies that large clusters can be produced using polar molecules, which could be useful in the studies of laser-cluster interactions. Also, SO2 gas is an important component of air pollution, so the knowledge of the clustering properties of SO2 could be helpful in the study of air pollution and environment.

In a laser-cluster interaction experiment, the radial dimension of a supersonic gas jet is an important parameter for the characterization of interaction volume. It is noted that due to the lateral gas expansion, the diameter of a supersonic gas jet is larger than the idealized diameter of a gas jet from a conical nozzle. In this work the effect of the lateral expansion on the radial dimension of gas jet was investigated by simulations. Based on the simulation results, the diameter of gas jet l was compared in detail with the corresponding diameter lT in the idealized straight streamline model and the diameter lH at a half of maximum atom density of gas jet. The results reveal how the deviation of l from lT (lH) changes with respect to the opening angles of conical nozzles, the heights above the nozzle, the nozzle lengths and the gas backing pressures. It is found that the diameter of gas jet l is close to the idealized diameter lT and lH in the case where a long conical nozzle with a large opening angle is used under a low gas backing pressure. In this case, the effect of the lateral expansion is so weak that the edge of gas jet becomes sharp and the radial distribution of atom density in gas jet tends to be uniform. The results could be useful for the characterization of a supersonic gas jet.

This work aims to understand the cluster size deviation from the prediction by an existing scaling law for conical nozzles. The dimensions of cluster jet at different heights above a nozzle along the direction of gas flow are measured. This study indicates that the dimension of cluster jet is underestimated in the existing scaling law and this under-estimation leads to the over-estimation of the equivalent diameter of conical nozzle. Thus the underestimation of the dimension of cluster jet may be one of possible factors responsible for the cluster size deviation (the degree of the deviation depends on details of cluster jet).

Using Rayleigh scattering measurement, we experimentally studied the effect of the opening angle of conical nozzles on the average sizes of argon clusters produced by high-pressure argon gas (up to 50 bars) expanding into vacuum. Both the scattering signal intensity and the scattering image were synchronically recorded by a photomultiplier tube and a charge-coupled device camera. These measurements allow for the comparison of average cluster sizes among conical nozzles of different opening angles. The experimental results indicate that, as expected by Hagena’s scaling law, the argon cluster size is dependent on the opening angle. However, it is also found that (1) the cluster size exhibits a larger deviation from Hagena’s scaling law at high backing pressure for a nozzle of a smaller opening angle and (2) the smaller the opening angle of conical nozzle gets, the weaker the pressure dependence of cluster size becomes.

We experimentally study Rayleigh scattering from a cluster jet produced by high pressure argon gas expanding into vacuum through four different nozzles (a supersonic slit nozzle, a slit nozzle, a conical nozzle, and a sonic nozzle). The scattering signal intensity and the scattering image are recorded by photomultiplier tube and charge-coupled device camera, respectively. Based on the scattering image, the atom density in the gas flow is estimated. This allows for the comparison of the dependence of average cluster size on argon gas backing pressure between the nozzles. The experimental results show that the planar expansion developed from the supersonic slit and the slit nozzles exhibits the higher atom density than the axisymmetric expansion from the conical and the sonic nozzles. The slit nozzle is shown to have the highest pressure dependence of average cluster size. It is found that the supersonic slit nozzle is more favorable to the large clusters than the slit nozzle under the backing pressure of u...