High voltage pulse cable and connector experience in the kicker systems at SLAC

The SLAC (Stanford Linear Accelerator Center) 2-mile linear accelerator uses a wide variety of pulse kicker systems that require high voltage cable and connectors to deliver pulses from the drivers to the magnet loads. Many of the drivers in the SLAC kicker systems use cable lengths up to 80 ft and are required to deliver pulses of up to 40 kV, with rise and fall times on the order of 20 ns. Significant pulse degradation from the cable and connector assembly cannot be tolerated. Other drivers are required to deliver up to 80-kV, 20- mu s pulses over cables 20 ft long. Several combinations of an applicable high-voltage cable and matching connector have been used at SLAC to determine the optimum assembly that meets the necessary specifications and is reliable.<>