A Laser Trigger System for ZR

Author

Bliss, D.E. ; Clark, W.T. ; LeChien, K.R. ; Maenchen, J.E. ; Savage, M.E. ; Sceiford, M.E. ; Stoltzfus, B.S. ; Struve, K.W. ; Stygar, W.A. ; Woodworth, J.R. ; Dalton, D. ; Wakeland, P.E.

Author_Institution

Sandia Nat. Labs., Albuquerque

fYear

2007

Firstpage

638

Lastpage

638

Abstract

Summary form only given. The Z pulsed power driver at Sandia National Laboratories is in the process of being refurbished as part of the ZR project to improve reliability and increase the energy delivered to the load. The new ZR gas switches currently close at a peak voltage of 6.2 MV to generate a projected 26 MA load current as compared to 4.6 MV and ~20 MA for the old switches on Z. The Laser Trigger System (LTS) has been redesigned to meet requirements that it trigger this higher voltage switch with comparable optic lifetime (>100 shots) and jitter (1sigma < 5ns) to the old Z switches. We will discuss critical design features of the LTS and show performance results from the Z20 test bed which was used to study the operation of a single ZR module.

Keywords

laser beam applications; plasma switches; pulsed power switches; Laser Trigger System; Sandia National Laboratories; Z pulsed power driver; Z20 test bed; ZR gas switches; current 20 MA; current 26 MA; jitter; load current; optic lifetime; voltage 4.6 MV; voltage switch; Gas lasers; Jitter; Laboratories; Optical pulses; Optical switches; Power lasers; Power system reliability; USA Councils; Voltage; Zirconium;

fLanguage

English

Publisher

ieee

Conference_Titel

Plasma Science, 2007. ICOPS 2007. IEEE 34th International Conference on

Conference_Location

Albuquerque, NM

ISSN

0730-9244

Print_ISBN

978-1-4244-0915-0

Type

conf

DOI

10.1109/PPPS.2007.4345944

Filename

4345944