COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE SUBNANOSECOND ELECTRICAL PULSERS SUFFER FROM TWO LIMITATIONS: LOW VOLTAGE LEVELS AND/OR CONSIDERABLE PULSE TO PULSE JITTER.

COMMERCIALLY AVAILABLE SUBNANOSECOND ELECTRICAL PULSERS SUFFER FROM TWO LIMITATIONS: LOW VOLTAGE LEVELS AND/OR CONSIDERABLE PULSE TO PULSE JITTER. A PULSER WHICH OVERCOME THESE LIMITATIONS WOULD OPEN UP NEW AVENUES OF RESEARCH IN DIVERSE AREAS, ESPECIALLY IN HIGH RESOLUTION RADAR AND RADAR TARGET IDENTIFICATION VIA NATURAL RESONANCE EXTRACTION; A HIGH ENERGY SOURCE FOR MICROWAVE GENERATION; A FAST EFFICIENT SWITCH IN MM WAVE APPLICATION AND IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF A TIME DOMAIN RADAR. THE OBJECTIVE OF THIS WORK IS TO DEMONSTRATE THE POSSIBILITY OF A WORKING LABORATORY MODEL OF AN ELECTRICAL PULSER CAPABLE OF GENERATING KILOVOLT AMPLITUDE PULSES OF 100 PICOSECOND OR LESS AT A REPETITION RATE OF 500 HZ. WE PROPOSE TO ACHIEVE THIS BY UTILISING A Q-SWITCHED MODE LOCKED LASER TO CONTROL A SEMICONDUCTOR SWITCH CONNECTED TO A HIGH VOLTAGE LINE. IT IS DEMONSTRATED THAT IT IS POSSIBLE TO GENERATE 1KV PULSES IN 250-350 PICOSECONDS DURATION AT A REPETITION RATE OF 500 HZ. THE AMPLITUDE JITTER IN THE PULSES ARE VERY SMALL AND FOR THE FIRST TIME SUCH PULSES CAN BE VIEWED ON A SAMPLING SCOPE. THE PROPOSAL OUTLINES VARIOUS WAYS OF REDUCING PULSE WIDTHS FOR EXISTING LASER SYSTEMS. ALTERNATE APPROACHES OF ACHIEVING THE SAME GOAL WITH LASER DIODES IS ALSO OUTLINED.