Abstract:
Electrons injected into liquid helium become trapped in a spherical cavity from which the liquid is almost completely excluded. When a negative pressure is applied to the liquid the size of the electron bubble increases, and at a critical negative pressure P-c the bubble explodes. We have observed these explosions and have measured P-c as a function of temperature. At low temperatures an electron bubble can become bound to a quantized vortex. The flow of the helium around the quantized vortex leads to a reduction in the magnitude of P-c. We will report measurements of this reduction in P-c and will make a comparison of the results with theoretical predictions.