  We have investigated the formation of helium droplets in two physical
situations. In the first one, droplets are atomised from superfluid or normal
liquid by a fast helium vapour flow. In the second, droplets of normal liquid
are formed inside porous glasses during the process of helium condensation. The
context, aims, and results of these experiments are reviewed, with focus on the
specificity of light scattering by helium. In particular, we discuss how, for
different reasons, the closeness to unity of the index of refraction of helium
allows in both cases to minimise the problem of multiple scattering and obtain
results which it would not be possible to get using other fluids.
