Photoconductive switching of the stacked Blumlein pulsers Available to Purchase

Stacked Blumlein devices have produced high power pulses with fast risetimes for a wide range of pulse durations and peak values using conventional thyratrons or spark gaps. This paper details our recent efforts to operate these pulsers with GaAs photoconductive switches in the avalanche mode. A laser diode array has been used to generate 50-W, 6-ns optical pulses at 904 nm for switch triggering. In this way a 2-line stacked Blumlein prototype is operated at peak powers of 40–70 MW. The switched current approaches 1.2 kA. Measurements indicate the output pulses have risetimes in the range of 150–300 ps.