APPLICATION OF PLASMA EROSION OPENING SWITCHES TO HIGH POWER ACCELERATORS FOR PULSE COMPRESSION AND POWER MULTIPLICATIONt

There has been considerable interest in recent years in using inductive storage techniques for pulsed power applications. Some of the advantages that inductive generators have over the more conventional capacitive systems include higher final stage energy density for higher power and smaller generators, lower insulator stress, faster pulse risetime, and the possibility of shorter pulse length. In an inductive store generator the energy is stored in the form of magnetic field energy near the load. A switch first ·conducts current while the inductor is charged then opens to release the energy to the load. The length of time that the switch conducts and how fast it opens determines the output voltage for a given load. For applications where high voltage and short pulses are desired the switch must operate in vacuum. The type of switch applicable to a particular system depends on how the system is to be used. The switch used to tailor a pulse by removing prepulse or sharpening the risetime will be different from one designed to compress the pulse. The difficulties assoicated with switching increase as the ratio of