title: A compact, low jitter, nanosecond rise time, high voltage pulse generator with variable amplitude.
abstract: In this paper, a compact, low jitter, nanosecond rise time, command triggered, high peak power, gas-switch pulse generator system is developed for high energy physics experiment. The main components of the system are a high voltage capacitor, the spark gap switch and R = 50 Ω load resistance built into a structure to obtain a fast high power pulse. The pulse drive unit, comprised of a vacuum planar triode and a stack of avalanche transistors, is command triggered by a single or multiple TTL (transistor-transistor logic) level pulses generated by a trigger pulse control unit implemented using the 555 timer circuit. The control unit also accepts user input TTL trigger signal. The vacuum planar triode in the pulse driving unit that close the first stage switches is applied to drive the spark gap reducing jitter. By adjusting the charge voltage of a high voltage capacitor charging power supply, the pulse amplitude varies from 5 kV to 10 kV, with a rise time of <3 ns and the maximum peak current up to 200 A (into 50 Ω). The jitter of the pulse generator system is less than 1 ns. The maximum pulse repetition rate is set at 10 Hz that limited only by the gas-switch and available capacitor recovery time.
authors.affiliation: Key Lab of Optoelectronic Technology and Systems, Education Ministry of China, Chongqing University, Chongqing 400044, China.
authors.forename: Jiubing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Mao
authors.forename: Xin
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Dan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Huayi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Lv
authors.forename: Chengxin
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Yanhua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shao
authors.forename: Lan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Qin