Electron impact ionization of CCl4 and SF6 embedded in superfluid helium droplets

Electron impact ionization of helium nano-droplets containing several 10⁴ He atoms and doped with CCl₄ or SF₆ molecules is studied with high-mass resolution. The mass spectra show significant clustering of CCl₄ molecules, less so for SF₆ under our experimental conditions. Positive ion efficiency curves as a function of electron energy indicate complete immersion of the molecules inside the helium droplets in both cases. For CCl₄ we observe the molecular parent cation CCl₄⁺ that preferentially is formed via Penning ionization upon collisions with He*. In contrast, no parent cation SF₆⁺ is seen for He droplets doped with SF₆. The fragmentation patterns for both molecules embedded in He are compared with gas phase studies. Ionization via electron transfer to He⁺ forms highly excited ions that cannot be stabilized by the surrounding He droplet. Besides the atomic fragments F⁺ and Cl⁺ several molecular fragment cations are observed with He atoms attached.