A Pulser System with Parallel Spark Gaps at High Repetition Rate

A primary interest of this work is to develop an efficient and powerful repetitive pulser system for the application of ultra wide band generation. The important component of the pulser system is a small-sized coaxial type spark gap with planar electrodes filled with SF6 gas. A repetitive switching action by the coaxial spark gap generates two consecutive pulses in less than a microsecond with rise times of a few hundred picoseconds (ps). A set of several parameters for the repetitive switching of the spark gap is required to be optimized in charging and discharging systems of the pulser. The parameters in the charging system include a circuit scheme, circuit elements, the applied voltage and current ratings from power supplies. The parameters in the discharging system include the spark gap geometry, electrode gap distance, gas type, gas pressure and the load. The characteristics of the spark gap discharge, such as breakdown voltage, output current pulse and recovery rate are too dynamic to control by switching continuously at a high pulse repetition rate (PRR). This leads to a low charging efficiency of the spark gap system. The breakthrough of the low charging efficiency is achieved by a parallel operation of two spark gaps system. The operational behavior of the two spark gaps system is presented in this paper. The work has focused on improvement of the charging efficiency by scaling the PRR of each spark gap in the two spark gaps system.