Synchronization of parallel intense electron beam accelerators based on single trigger generator

Abstract

In this study, the authors provide results of the precisely synchronized triggering of an intense electron beam accelerator (IEBA). The trigger generator was composed of a fractional-turn ratio saturable-pulse transformer and a compact six-stage Marx generator. The main switch of the IEBA was a corona-stabilized triggered switch (CSTS) based on the stabilized corona mechanism. The output voltage of a single IEBA exceeded 500 kV with less than 4 ns of jitter on a 50 Ω dummy load. We also conducted an experiment on the synchronous triggering of two IEBAs by using two independent trigger generators. The synchronization-related jitter was 6.1 ns, while the average time difference was 1.3 ns. We used this to attempt to trigger two parallel IEBAs by using a single trigger generator. The results showed a reduction in the synchronization-related jitter of 31% to 4.2 ns. The designs of the CSTS and the trigger generator guaranteed a precisely synchronous trigger by using a single trigger generator. Thus, the proposed method appears to be promising for accurately and synchronously triggering multiple IEBAs by using a single trigger generator. This provides an effective method to generate pulses with high power.