TY - JOUR
T1 - Low-jitter triggered spark gap with high-pressure gas mixtures
AU - Chen, Yeong Jer
AU - Mankowski, John J.
AU - Dickens, James C.
AU - Walter, John
AU - Kristiansen, Magne
N1 - Funding Information:
Manuscript received November 27, 2007; revised February 7, 2008. First published October 31, 2008; current version published November 14, 2008. This work was supported by the Office of Naval Research for research on Pulsed Ring-Down Antenna.
PY - 2008
Y1 - 2008
N2 - Recent attention to impulse antenna phased array has necessitated the need to develop a reliable high-voltage highrepetition-rate switch that will operate with ultralow jitter. An ideal jitter of a small fraction of the rise time is required to accurately synchronize the array to steer and preserve the rise time of the radiated pulse. This paper presents the impact that gases and gas mixtures have on switch performance which includes recovery rate and, in particular, jitter. A 50-Ω 1-nF pulse-forming line is charged to 30 kV and provides the low inductance voltage source to test the different gases. Triggering is provided by a solid-state opening switch voltage source that supplies < 100-kV 10-ns rise-time pulses at a rep rate of up to 1 kHz in burst mode. A hermetically sealed spark gap with a Kel-F lining is used to house the switch and high-pressure gas. The system includes a gas-mixing chamber that can mix various gases up to 2000 psi. Gases tested include dry air, H2, N2, and SF6. Switch operations in 30 kV and 10 Hz have shown reliable subnanosecond jitter times with pure gases, including dry air, H2, N2, and with H2-N2 and N2-SF6 gas mixtures. The system was then modified for 50-kV 100-Hz operations with data collected for each of the pure gases. Recovery was monitored with no major problems at the 100-Hz operation, and subnanosecond jitter results for H2, N2, and SF6 are also recorded.
AB - Recent attention to impulse antenna phased array has necessitated the need to develop a reliable high-voltage highrepetition-rate switch that will operate with ultralow jitter. An ideal jitter of a small fraction of the rise time is required to accurately synchronize the array to steer and preserve the rise time of the radiated pulse. This paper presents the impact that gases and gas mixtures have on switch performance which includes recovery rate and, in particular, jitter. A 50-Ω 1-nF pulse-forming line is charged to 30 kV and provides the low inductance voltage source to test the different gases. Triggering is provided by a solid-state opening switch voltage source that supplies < 100-kV 10-ns rise-time pulses at a rep rate of up to 1 kHz in burst mode. A hermetically sealed spark gap with a Kel-F lining is used to house the switch and high-pressure gas. The system includes a gas-mixing chamber that can mix various gases up to 2000 psi. Gases tested include dry air, H2, N2, and SF6. Switch operations in 30 kV and 10 Hz have shown reliable subnanosecond jitter times with pure gases, including dry air, H2, N2, and with H2-N2 and N2-SF6 gas mixtures. The system was then modified for 50-kV 100-Hz operations with data collected for each of the pure gases. Recovery was monitored with no major problems at the 100-Hz operation, and subnanosecond jitter results for H2, N2, and SF6 are also recorded.
KW - High repetition rate
KW - High-pressure gas mixtures
KW - Impulse antenna
KW - Phased array
KW - Subnanosecond jitter
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=60049100262&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/TPS.2008.2004366
DO - 10.1109/TPS.2008.2004366
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:60049100262
SN - 0093-3813
VL - 36
SP - 2546
EP - 2553
JO - IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science
JF - IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science
IS - 5 PART 3
ER -