A spark gap switch with very high repetition rate

摘要

The operation of plasma based switches at a very high repetition rate is an important issue particularly for thepulsed power technology. One of such investigations involves the repetitive switching based on a miniaturizedspark gap geometry at a high pressure. We concentrated on precise and fast charging of the spark gap in a selfbreakdownmode and simultaneously achieving a fast discharge at a load to aid for a relatively rapid recovery.The switched pulses exceeded 1 MHz of the repetition frequency. Several parameters for this purpose such as theelectrode gap distance, electrode geometry, gas type, gas pressure, and including the charging scheme withapplied voltage and current rating were optimized, which in one or other way dependent on each other. Someimportant features of these spark gap plasmas are presented in this article.