Optically activated switches for low jitter pulsed power applications

Zutavern, F.J.; Armijo, Julien; Cameron, Stewart; Denison, G.J.; Lehr, J.M.; Luk, Ting Shan; Már, A.; O'Malley, M.W.; Roose, L.D.; Rudd, J. V.

doi:10.1109/ppc.2003.1277780

Cited by 18 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…The performance of the PCSS is consistent across a large range of fields from twice the lock-on field of approximately 10 kY/cm to the maximum operating field of approximately 70 kY Icm in pulse charged operation [9]. This along with the ability to control the triggering of the PCSS devices to within 100 ps rms jitter [ 10], makes these switches ideal for high performance applications. The limiting characteristic of PCSS devices in many of these applications has been the significant reduction in lifetime as the filament current increases above 30 A[II].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 66%

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High current, multi-filament photoconductive semiconductor switching

Zutavern

Glover

Már

et al. 2011

2011 IEEE Pulsed Power Conference

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High current switching is the most critical challenge remaining for photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS) applications in Pulsed Power. Many authors have described the advantageous properties of high gain PCSS such as, low optical trigger energy and inductance, sub nanosecond risetime and jitter, optical isolation and control, pulsed or DC charging, and long device lifetime, provided the current per filament is limited to 20-30A for short pulse (1O-20ns) applications [I, 2]. Low energy optical triggering, long device lifetime, and current filaments are related features of high gain PCSS that make high current switching a challenge. Since the location and number of current filaments can be controlled with parallel "lines" of optical pulses across the insulating gap, the problem of high current, multi-filament PCSS switching is essentially the problem of producing a reliable, efficient, multi-line, optical delivery system [3].In this paper, several classes of optical delivery systems will be discussed: line-of-sight plastic and glass micro lens arrays, multi-mode fiber-optic/micro-lens combinations, single-mode fiber-optic/micro-lens array combinations, and masked PCSS alone and with other optical "concentrating" components. The application dependent advantages and disadvantages of each approach will be discussed. Results will be shown from specific examples (plastic and glass micro-lens arrays, single and multi-mode fibers and bundles, and high density optically masked PCSS) that have been tested and demonstrated.The fundamental requirements of multi-filament, high gain PCSS triggering are also being measured and will be reported. Optical trigger energy, pulse width, line-width, and spatial density are the key factors in determining the attainable switching efficiency and volume for high current pulsed power applications. Measurements of these properties and their implied trade-offs will be presented.A high voltage, high current, high gain PCSS demonstration will be described. In these tests, three I cm gap PCSS switch a 60 KY Blumlein conducting 2.5 kA for 6 ns with approximately 100 filaments spaced at 30 filaments/cm. This system will test the practical aspects of optical triggering with the line-of-sight micro-lens and masked PCSS approaches. Along with these results, we will also discuss our plans to demonstrate 100 kY, 25 kA, 1000 filament switching with a bank of PCSS.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 66%

“…High Gain GaAs PCSS Properties[3,[9][10][11]15] kA current listed in this table was obtained by triggering multiple linear filaments through 180 cylindrical I mm diameter glass rods on the surface of six 2-inch diameter GaAs wafers. A 3 mJ uniform optical pulse was delivered to these cylindrical lenses in 192 multi-mode fibers (200 micron dia.,…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

High current, multi-filament photoconductive semiconductor switching

Zutavern

Glover

Már

et al. 2011

2011 IEEE Pulsed Power Conference

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“…The former-trigger unit operates by direct discharge of capacitors through a switch [27]. In order to obtain fast pulse rise time, a minimized inductance design was used [28]. The overall structure is coaxial as shown in Fig.…”

Section: Repetitive Multipath Trigger Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of a hybrid mode linear transformer driver stage

Zhang

Wang

Zhou

et al. 2018

Phys. Rev. Accel. Beams

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At present, the mainstream technologies of primary power sources of large pulse power devices adopt Marx or linear transformer driver (LTD) designs. Based on the analysis of the characteristics of these two types of circuit topologies, the concept of a hybrid mode LTD stage based on Marx branches is proposed. The analysis shows that the hybrid mode LTD stage can realize the following goals: (a) to reduce the energy and power handled by the basic components (switch and capacitor) to lengthen their lifetime; (b) to reduce the requirements of the multipath synchronous trigger system; and (c) to improve the maintainability of the LTD stage by using independent Marx generators instead of "traditional LTD bricks." To verify the technique, a hybrid mode LTD stage consisting of 50 branches (four-stage compact Marx generators) was designed, manufactured and tested. The stage has a radius of about 3.3 m and a height of 0.6 m. The single Marx circuit's load current is about 21 kA, with a rise time of ∼90 ns (10%-90%), under the conditions of capacitors charged to AE40 kV and a 6.9 Ω matched load. The whole stage's load current is ∼1 MA, with a rise time of ∼112 ns (10%-90%), when the capacitors are charged to AE45 kV and the matched load is 0.14 Ω.

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“…Lasers have been used to trigger spark gaps through fiber optic links directly [7] for isolation and controllable switching delay. Fiber optically controlled trigger generators based on conductive semiconductor switches (PCSS) have been used to trigger the high voltage switches in pulsed power systems where they control the timing synchronization and amplitude variation of multiple pulse forming lines that combine to produce the total system output [8,9]. As rise time and pulse widths get shorter, the requirements for synchronization increase.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Synchronous triggering of multiple spark gap switches

Gupta

Narula

Pande

2014

2014 Recent Advances in Engineering and Computational Sciences (RAECS)

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This paper presents Fiber optics based technique for synchronizing the operation of two or more spark gaps. The aim of this work is to configure a pulse power system where various gas filled spark gap switches can be synchronized for simultaneous operation or with a preset delay with accuracy better than 50ns to achieve higher pulse currents. Use of fiber optic allows the various high voltage circuits to be electrically isolated from each other and thus offering simplicity in trigger control. Power for trigger system can be derived from the electrical fields near the trigger, so all electrical cables to the trigger system are eliminated and replaced with a fiber cable that triggers the system. We have used commercially available fiber optical transmitter HFBR1404 and receiver HFBR 2402 to configure the optical interface. The delay between the transmitted pulses is generated electrically and thus can be precisely adjusted to attain desired value. A TTL high speed high current driver is used to generate an electrical pulse which is converted to optical trigger pulse by fiber optic transmitter. The leading edge of the pulse is used for timing reference and pulse width is not important. fiber optic receiver converts the optical signal back to electrical signal which is further used to trigger gas filled spark gap

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Optically activated switches for low jitter pulsed power applications

Cited by 18 publications

References 3 publications

High current, multi-filament photoconductive semiconductor switching

High current, multi-filament photoconductive semiconductor switching

Development of a hybrid mode linear transformer driver stage

Synchronous triggering of multiple spark gap switches

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