2017 IEEE Pulsed Power Conference

Triggering of a High Pressure Air-filled High Voltage Spark Gap Switch Using Laser Induced Plasmas Resulting in Sub-nanosecond Jitter at Low Percentages of Self-Break*

21 Jun 2017, 15:45

30m

Preston (Hilton Brighton Metropole Hotel)

Oral High Power Microwaves, RF Sources and Antennas Oral session 17 - High Voltage Switching technology - Session Chair : Richard Ness

Speaker

Sean Simpson (Sandia National Laboratories)

Description

We demonstrate a high pressure, air-filled, spark gap switch with small gap geometries of 1.5 - 3.5 mm triggered using a laser induced plasma between the electrodes with laser energies as low as 500 uJ resulting in jitter from 350 ps to 2.2 ns when operated between 70% - 30% of self-break for voltages >100 kV. Switches of this design can be used for near-synchronous firing of 100’s to 1000’s of switches while maintaining low impedance and low inductance.

In this work, we will present our most recent results for our prototype switch in terms of gap geometry, DC hold-off voltage, operating pressure, switch run-time, laser energy, and jitter.

*Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by Sandia Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Lockheed Martin Corporation, for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-AC04-94AL85000.