Publications

Field-Distortion Air-Insulated Switches for Next-Generation Pulsed-Power Accelerators

Wisher, Matthew L.; Johns, Owen J.; Breden, E.W.; Calhoun, Jacob D.; Gruner, Frederick R.; Hohlfelder, Robert J.; Mulville, Thomas D.; Muron, David J.; Stoltzfus, Brian S.; Stygar, William A.

We have developed two advanced designs of a field-distortion air-insulated spark-gap switch that reduce the size of a linear-transformer-driver (LTD) brick. Both designs operate at 200 kV and a peak current of ~50 kA. At these parameters, both achieve a jitter of less than 2 ns and a prefire rate of ~0.1% over 5000 shots. We have reduced the number of switch parts and assembly steps, which has resulted in a more uniform, design-driven assembly process. We will characterize the performance of tungsten-copper and graphite electrodes, and two different electrode geometries. The new switch designs will substantially improve the electrical and operational performance of next-generation pulsed-power accelerators.