Opening switch research and development for DECADE

DECADE is a very high peak power generator designed to drive both large area bremsstrahlung diode arrays and imploding plasma loads. The realization of this facility required significant improvement in the operation of the critical component, the plasma opening switch (POS). This presentation will address these improvements which were made in operation of the switch, and also discuss trends in opening switch performance that have not been reported previously, and which may be due to the use of relatively long magnetically insulated transmission lines (MITL) upstream of the POS. The performance of a plasma opening switch (POS), as measured by the peak opening voltage developed, has been improved from ≈ 1.2 to ≈ 2.7 MV through reductions in the size of the cathode used, and details of the anode configuration in and downstream of the switch region. This modification was motivated by observation of electron damage to the anode in the POS region, and consisted of the removal of any metallic surfaces that exhibited significant damage and were not essential to the integri-ty of the switch.