Recent attention to impulse antenna phased arrays has necessitated the need to develop a reliable high voltage, high repetition rate switch that will operate with ultra low jitter. The ideal jitter of such a switch would be a small fraction of the rise-time in order to synchronize the array to steer and preserve the rise-time of the radiated pulse. This paper presents the impact, gases and gas mixtures have on switch performance which includes recovery rate and in particular, jitter. A 50 Ω, 1 nF pulse forming line is charged to 30 kV and provides the low inductance voltage source to test the different gases. Triggering is provided by an SOS voltage source that supplies >100 kV, 10 ns rise-time pulses at a rep rate up to 1 kHz in burst mode. A hermetically sealed spark gap with a Kel-F lining is used to house the switch and high pressure gas. The system contains a high pressure gas mixing chamber that can mix various gases up to 2000 psi. Gases tested include dry air, H{sub}2, N{sub}2, and SF{sub}6.
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