A compact source of subgigawatt subnanosecond pulses

The system comprises a nanosecond solid-state opening switch (SOS) generator that charges resonantly a short pulse-forming line (PFL) through a decoupling inductor, one or two pulse-compression stages based on high-pressure gas spark gaps (SGs), a matched load and several built-in voltage and current probes. Weighing less than 50 kg, the pulser provides up to 160-kV subnanosecond pulses at a 37.5-Ω load at a repetition rate of up to 300 Hz. The pulsewidth can be regulated from 2 ns down to 300 ps without SG depressurization. The rise- and fall times are 180 and 100 ps, respectively. Alternatively, unipolar or bipolar output can be provided. The latter was formed by a synchronous operation of SGs located at the beginning and at the end of a PFL; thus, an active conversion of unipolar to bipolar output was realized. The load peak-to-peak voltage was almost two times as high as the amplitude of the unipolar pulse. In the active converter, a virtually identical electrical field stress across the switching SGs was achieved, which alone provided its stable operation. Circuit analysis accounting for distributed character of the components and numerous parasitic parameters is presented. Voltage and current measurement means were developed and time-domain calibrated. Waveforms probed at different locations of the pulser system, from the SOS generator to the load, are presented. The experimental results are in fair agreement with PSpice simulations used for the hardware design. Life test of a one-stage compressor with two types of electrode systems was performed, and the results are reported. The pulser was tested with a TEM horn antenna. The effective potential (field multiplied by distance) of this radiation source is 640 kV in far field.