HIGH REPETITION RATE GLOW DISCHARGE CLOSING SWITCH DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM

THE DEVELOPMENT OF HIGH POWER, HIGH REPETITION RATE CLOSING SWITCHES HAS RECENTLY BECOME IMPORTANT FOR MANY PULSED POWER APPLICATIONS. HISTORICALLY, HIGH REPETITION RATE SWITCHES FOR PULSED POWER APPLICATIONS HAVE EITHER BEEN SPARK GAPS OR THYRATRONS. THYRATRONS HAVE HIGH REPETITION RATES, BUT ARE LIMITED TO LOW VOLTAGES AND LOW CURRENT. CONVERSELY, SPARK GAPS CAN CARRY HIGH CURRENTS AND STAND-OFF HIGH VOLTAGES, BUT THE REPETITION RATE IS LOW. WE PROPOSE THE DEVELOPMENT OF A SWITCH THAT FILLS THE VOID BETWEEN THYRATRONS AND SPARK GAPS. WITH THE SELF-SUSTAINED UV PRE-IONIZED GLOW DISCHARGE SWITCH, WE SHOULD BE ABLE TO DEVELOP VOLTAGE STAND-OFFS OF 200-500 KV, CONDUCTION CURRENTS OF 200-500 KA, AND HIGH REPETITION RATES. OUR PROPOSAL IS BASED ON EXPERIMENTS THAT WE CONDUCTED FOR THE AIR FORCE WEAPONS LABORATORY STUDYING THE FEASIBILITY OF FAST AVALANCHE-CONTROLLED DISCHARGES FOR THE INITIATION OF PULSED HF LASERS. EXPERIENCE AND DATA FROM OUR UV-SUSTAINED GLOW DISCHARGE OPENING SWITCH PROGRAM IS ALSO DIRECTLY APPLICATIONAL. THE ANTICIPATED RESULTS OF PHASE I ARE THE DETERMINATION OF THE FEASIBILITY OF THE SWITCH FROM THE EXPERIMENTAL DEMONSTRATION OF GAS MIXTURES THAT YIELD SWITCH RATIOS GREATER THAN TWO.