A high-voltage hard-switch modulator for the International Linear Collider

Diversified Technologies, Inc. (DTI) is developing a solid-state hard-switch modulator (Figure 1 and Figure 2) for the International Linear Collider, under the U.S. DOE SBIR program. This modulator will supply pulses at up to 135 kV, 165 A, and 1.5 ms for the 1.3-GHz klystrons. The full voltage is switched, so no transformer is needed. To achieve the required pulse flatness (±0.5% at 5 Hz) without a large capacitor bank, an LC bouncer compensates for the voltage droop.