A Low Jitter Triggered Gas Switch to Synchronize Modular Accelerators

Abstract

Physics International (PI) has developed a high voltage, low jitter, command triggered gas switch to serve as an output switch for the slow-charging transfer capacitor in EAGLE, a 2 TW pulsed power research facility presently under construction. EAGLE is a prototype module of PI's conceptual design for a 40-50 TW, 4-5 MJ pulsed accelerator called ROULETTE (see Figure 1). The use of our triggered gas switch in ROULETTE provides distinct advantages over conventional water switches: considerably lower intermodule jitter, less ohmic dissipation, reduced mechanical shock loading of structures, and better control of the current distribution.