MAGNETIC SWITCH DRIVEN HIGH VOLTAGE GENERATOR.

The authors describe a reliable trigger generator which was developed for synchronizing Marx generators used to power an electron-beam-pumped KrF laser system. The generator comprises two parts--a dc-charged capacitor switched by a tetrode thyratron situated outside the Marx oil tank, and an air-cored pulse transformer driven by a magnetic switch situated in close proximity to the Marx generator inside the tank. The primary capacitor stores 100 J at 30 kV and the charge time of the secondary capacitor is compressed from 2. 5 mu s by a Metglas cored saturable inductor to give a risetime at the output of the pulse transformer of 150 ns (10%-90%) with only 2% pre-pulse level. A bipolar output around plus or minus 10 kV is obtained and is used with opposite polarities triggering alternate midplane switches in the left bracket n equals 2, 10 right bracket -stage Marx generator. In this configuration, the Marx generator will trigger down to 50% of self-break with a jitter of less than 20 ns.