The linear transformer driver (LTD) is a new method for constructing high current, high-voltage pulsed accelerators. The salient feature of the approach is switching and inductively adding the pulses at low voltage straight out of the capacitors through low inductance transfer and soft iron core isolation. Sandia National Laboratories are actively pursuing the development of a new class of accelerator based on the LTD technology. Presently, the high current LTD experimental research is concentrated on two aspects: first, to study the repetition rate capabilities, reliability, reproducibility of the output pulses, switch prefires, jitter, electrical power and energy efficiency, and lifetime measurements of the cavity active components; second, to study how a multicavity linear array performs in a voltage adder configuration relative to current transmission, energy and power addition, and wall plug to output pulse electrical efficiency. Here we report the repetition rate and lifetime studies performed in the Sandia High Current LTD Laboratory. We first utilized the prototype $0:4-MA, LTD I cavity which could be reliably operated up to AE90-kV capacitor charging. Later we obtained an improved 0.5-MA, LTD II version that can be operated at AE100 kV maximum charging voltage. The experimental results presented here were obtained with both cavities and pertain to evaluating the maximum achievable repetition rate and LTD cavity performance. The voltage adder experiments with a series of double sized cavities (1 MA, AE100 kV) will be reported in future publications.
We present the application of a short rise ($150 ns) 250 kA linear transformer driver (LTD) to wire array z-pinch loads for the first time. The generator is a modification of a previous driver in which a new conical power feed provides a low inductance coupling to wire loads. Performance of the new design using both short circuit and plasma loads is presented and discussed. The final design delivers $200 kA to a wire array load which is in good agreement with SCREAMER calculations using a simplified representative circuit. Example results demonstrate successful experiments using cylindrical, conical, and inverse wire arrays as well as previously published work on x-pinch loads.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.