Design approach to a high-voltage burst generator

An increasing number of experimental programs call for a sequence of several closely spaced, high-voltage pulses. This paper presents the various design considerations for such a system. These include the kind of pulse generator, series or parallel configuration, kinds of lines, aspect ratio, choice of dielectric, switch type, triggering considerations, Marx Generator design and isolation, feed problems, pulse formation, and waveform degradation with increasing stages. The design procedure is illustrated by the M-2 pulser built for the PHERMEX Facility at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. This system produces a train of up to three 40 ns pulses, variable from 600 kV to 1.4 MV with pulse separations of 100 ns to 1 ms. Results are given and waveforms presented