Design and characterization of a small multipurpose capacitor bank for plasma physics and pulsed power experiments

Pulsed power technologies essentially refer to power sources providing a huge amount of energy during very short times. These technologies have applications in several fields of science and engineering: production of transient electrical discharges and plasmas, generation of radiation and ion beams, high density matter, production of pulsed high magnetic fields and shock waves. The achievements of these fields are relevant for several economical and industrial areas: electronics, microlithography, mining, medicine, agriculture, defense, materials, among others. In the present work, the design and construction of a small capacitor bank conceived for carrying out a variety of research activities are presented. The main features of this system are 1.2 μF of capacity, 30 kV maximum charge voltage, 33 nH inductance, 500 J of energy, 180 kA at the peak of current and dI/dt∼1011 A s-1. The procedure and results related to the characterization of the capacitor bank are presented. Possible applications of this capacitor bank to scaling studies related to plasma focus and Z-pinch, high pulsed magnetic field generation and rock fragmentation by electrical discharges are mentioned.