Spark gap triggering with photoconductive switches
Photoconductive switches are well suited for triggering spark gaps since the triggering event is short and requires very little energy. Photoswitches offer fast-rising pulses of short duration with voltage levels of several tens of kV and tens of ps jitter and can be very simple in design, whereas typical trigger sources require multiple stages to generate tens of kV needed to effectively trigger a spark gap of the same potential and usually suffer from slow risetimes. This paper presents methods aimed at triggering spark gaps with photoswitches. Both linear and nonlinear photoswitches are discussed and their associated problems are presented.
Properties of high gain GaAs switches for pulsed power applications
High gain GaAs photoconductive semiconductor switches (PCSS) are being used in a variety of electrical and optical short pulse applications. The highest power application, which we are developing, is a compact, repetitive, short pulse linear induction accelerator. The array of PCSS, which drive the accelerator, will switch 75 kA and 250 kV in 30 ns long pulses at 50 Hz. The accelerator will produce a 700 kV, 7kA electron beam for industrial and military applications. In the low power regime, these switches are being used to switch 400 A and 5 kV to drive laser diode arrays which produce 100 ps optical pulses. These short optical pulses are for military and commercial applications in optical and electrical range sensing, 3D laser radar, and high speed imaging. Both types of these applications demand a better understanding of the switch properties to increase switch lifetime, reduce jitter, optimize optical triggering, and improve overall switch performance. These applications and experiments on the fundamental behavior of high gain GaAs switches is discussed. Open shutter, infra-red images and time-resolved Schlieren images of the current filaments, which form during high gain switching, are presented. Results from optical triggering experiments to produce multiple, diffuse filaments for high current repetitive switching are described.
Compact short-pulse laser for near-field range-gated imaging
This paper describes a compact laser, which produces high power, wide-angle emission for a near-field, range-gated, imaging system. The optical pulses are produced by a 100 element laser diode array (LDA) which is pulsed with a GaAs, photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS). The LDA generates 100 ps long, gain-switched, optical pulses at 904 nm when it is driven with 3 ns, 400 A, electrical pulses from a high gain PCSS. Gain switching is facilitated with this many lasers by using a low impedance circuit to drive an array of lasers, which are connected electrically in series. The total optical energy produced per pulse is 100 microjoules corresponding to a total peak power of 100 kW. The entire laser system, including prime power (a nine volt battery), pulse charging, PCSS, and LDA, is the size of a small, hand-held flashlight, System lifetime, which is presently limited by the high gain PCSS, is an active area of research and development. Present limitations and potential improvements will be discussed. The complete range-gated imaging system is based on complementary technologies: high speed optical gating with intensified charge coupled devices (ICCD) developed at Los Alamos National Laboratory and high gain, PCSS-driven LDAs developed at Sandia National Laboratories. The system is designed for use in highly scattering media such as turbid water or extremely dense fog or smoke. The short optical pulses from the laser and high speed gating of the ICCD are synchronized to eliminate the back-scattered light from outside the depth of the field of view (FOV) which may be as short as a few centimeters. A high speed photodiode can be used to trigger the intensifier gate and set the range-gated FOV precisely on the target. The ICCD and other aspects of the imaging system are discussed in a separate paper.