Study of high dielectric constant materials for use in compact transmission lines for HPM drivers

One approach to developing compact pulsed power drivers of High Power Microwave (HPM) sources involves using folded Blumlein transmission lines as the pulse shaping element. In this paper we report progress in the modeling of Blumlein transmission lines, and the advantages of utilizing high dielectric constant ceramics in lieu of Kapton™ as the dielectric material. Ceramics with a graded resistivity profile might offer significant advantages in this configuration. Future directions of our research effort will be described.