Operating characteristics of a sealed-prototype Cs-Ba tacitron

Tacitrons are triode gas-discharge tubes, similar in construction to thyratrons. The primary functional difference between a tacitron and a thyratron is that the tacitron is designed to be completely grid-controlled, whereas a thyratron has grid control only over ignition. Demountable cesium-barium (Cs-Ba) tacitrons have exhibited very low forward voltage drops in the range of a few volts, hold-off voltages greater than 200 V, and average conduction current densities greater than 10 A/cm/sup 2/. These characteristics yield an average power switching density on the order of 10/sup 3/ W/cm/sup 2/ approaching 95% peak switching efficiency. This parameter regime places the Cs-Ba tacitron in the range of conventional solid-state devices, with the advantage that the tacitron should reliably operate in extremes of temperature and radiation. The sealed prototype Cs-Ba tacitron discussed is intended to demonstrate "off-the-shelf" operation, taking the first step in moving the tacitron from a laboratory device to the performance level of a commercial product v.