Ferratron: A High-Voltage, High Rep-Rate, Low Jitter, Ultrawideband Switch with a Ferroelectric Trigger

摘要

The system is a novel application of ferroelectric ceramics combined with a gas flow scheme that provides reliable triggering at high repetition rates. The design can be interpreted as an active trigatron-like switch where the ferroelectric ceramic behaves as an electron/corona source and the trigger configuration is that of a simple trigatron with the advantage that the trigger voltages are not as high as the gap voltage. The trigger system is integrated into a fast gas flow switch chamber design capable of sustaining 500 kV at a pressure of 1500 psi. The switch chamber is tailored to reduce field stress and provide a low inductance current path with a very compact geometry. The high gas flow allows the replacement of the gas in the discharge region on a time scale necessary to sustain the required repetition rate (100 Hz to 1 kHz). The switch has been successfully operated during the preliminary tests using N2 at low pressure. The jitter was found to be < 70 ps at a repetition rate of 1 Hz. The rise time was on the order of 500 ps. Higher repetition rates, faster rise times, and higher voltages will be attained as testing and development continue.