High current, high Coulomb ignitrons. Final report: Revision 1

Technical Report · Mon Dec 31 04:00:00 EST 1990

OSTI ID:10168133

Giesselmann, M ^[1]

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1. Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX (United States). Pulsed Power Lab.

Texas Tech University has conducted research to develop high power ignitrons for pulsed power applications. The new ignitrons should be able to handle currents up to 1000 kA with a charge transfer of more than 500 C`s per shot. Other requirements are a reasonable lifetime of 500--1000 shots and a low forward voltage drop. The project was carried out jointly between manufacturers, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and Texas Tech University (TTU). Three workshops have been held at TTU, LLNL and Richardson Electronics to coordinate the work and address the research areas. Since the beginning of the ignitron work at TTU, a capacitor bank, a charging power supply, several test stands for critically damped and crowbarred operation, two high speed cameras, several special ignitrons, a vacuum stand, a Mach-Zehnder interferometer, a microwave interferometer, an argon laser and electrical diagnostics equipment were set up. High power voltage and current measurements as well as high speed photography of the discharge plasma have been performed. The effects of axial magnetic fields on the discharge plasma and the holdoff voltage have also been studied. In addition optical and microwave interferometry have been performed. The cooperative effort led to the development of the new NL-9000 tube from Richardson Electronics rated at 500 kA and 250 C charge transfer simultaneously.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Livermore National Lab., CA (United States); Texas Tech Univ., Lubbock, TX (United States). Pulsed Power Lab.
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE, Washington, DC (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: W-7405-ENG-48
• OSTI ID: 10168133
• Report Number(s): UCRL--21138-Rev.1; ON: DE93015984
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

70 PLASMA PHYSICS AND FUSION TECHNOLOGY
700320
700350
HIGH-VOLTAGE PULSE GENERATORS
IGNITRONS
INTERFEROMETRY
PLASMA DIAGNOSTIC TECHNIQUES AND INSTRUMENTATION
PLASMA DIAGNOSTICS
PLASMA PRODUCTION, HEATING, CURRENT DRIVE, AND INTERACTIONS
PROGRESS REPORT
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
ULTRAHIGH-SPEED PHOTOGRAPHY
VACUUM SYSTEMS
VOLTAGE DROP