Fast pulse techniques related to the X-ray laser project at PPPL

During the development of the PPPL X-ray laser, many techniques were used to provide low jitter, fast risetime pulses for the synchronization of various experimental equipment used on the laser systems. In many of these systems the optical pulses were in the range of several tens of nanoseconds to less than one nanosecond in duration, and the associated experimental equipment was required to perform dynamic measurements, on those optical signals. The author provides an overview of some of the various techniques available for fast risetime, low jitter pulse generation, including the use of krytrons, avalanche transistor chains, hydrogen thyratron, preionized spark gaps, and step-recovery diodes. He also presents some of the measurements made of these systems