Electron‐beam‐controlled diffuse discharges are promising candidates for high‐power opening switches in inductive energy storage circuits. An additive of an attaching gas must be used to obtain short opening times when the electron beam is turned off. A high switch efficiency requires low loss operation during conduction. This paper presents methods to optimize gas mixtures for such discharges. Gas mixtures utilizing one or two attaching gases are used and the effect of gas additives which influence the drift velocity is investigated. Experiments on the Jsw‐E/N characteristics, the dc E/N breakdown limit, and the glow‐to‐arc transition E/N limit depending on the energy loading of the discharge are presented and the implications of these results to opening switches are discussed.

Topics
Energy storage, Electron beams
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© 1988 American Institute of Physics.
1988
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