Amplitude compression of high-voltage pulses in subnanosecond formers on gas spark gaps

An inductive-capacitive unit with a gas spark gap has been developed which provides compression of the energy of a nanosecond high-voltage generator with no change in input impedance. By charging an additional capacitive energy store in the traveling wave mode within a time comparable to the generator pulse risetime, an increase in output voltage from 150 to 200 kV has been achieved, which corresponds to an increase in pulse peak power by a factor of 1.75. The efficiency of the starting pulse energy transformation reaches 80%.