Development of a double pulse generator using an air core transformer with a magnetic switch

A new type of double-pulse generator is proposed for the generation of high power pulses with extremely short inter-pulse repetition interval. In this system, an air-core step-up transformer is used with a magnetic switch and a pulse-forming line, which is charged in the double-resonance mode. A small system was constructed to demonstrate the production of double pulses experimentally. The system contains two first stage capacitors of 150 nF each, a 1∶15 air-core step-up transformer, a magnetic switch using cobalt based amorphous core, a second stage capacitor of 1.6 nF, and an 80 Ω load. Double-pulses 100 ns wide, peak voltages of 85 kV (first pulse) and 90 kV (second pulse) have been successfully generated with an interval of 3.75 µs between pulses, when the first stage capacitors were charged to 14 kV (for first pulse) and 17 kV (for second pulse).