Can Diatomic Helium Molecules Be Created through Ionizing Radiation?

[rollcast]

Could you make a diatomic helium molecule?

Say you passed ionizing radiation through helium would these ions join to form He₂ . I'm not sure wether this would produce an unstable balance of charges in the molecule?

 

[SpectraCat]

You can make a bound molecule of He₂⁺. You can also make He₂^*, where * indicates an electronically excited state, but as far as I know you can only make that molecule in condensed phases, or perhaps in the warm part of a JT expansion.

Neutral He₂ exists as a van der Waals molecule in very low temperature molecular beams. It is a very exotic molecule, with an extremely weak bond, and an average interatomic spacing of tens of Angstroms.