Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Interstage closure times for the rimfire multistage gas switch

Conference ·

The Rimfire multistage switch is a low-jitter SF/sub 6/ insulated gas switch that has been developed for PBFA II. The first stage is laser-triggered, and the subsequent stages are self-fired by the over-voltage from the closure of the triggered stage. The runtime of the 5 MV PBFA II switch is approximately 30 ns, and the standard deviation timing jitter is 1 ns. A Thomson streak camera and cylindrical imaging optics have been used to observe stage closure times, and a gated, single-frame camera recorded snapshots of the discrete arcs during the closure. These observations have shown that approximately half the switch closure time comes from the trigger and first self-break gap. The switch jitter is also dominated by these first gaps. Computer simulations, based on T.H. Martin's empirical gas breakdown model, agree with the experimental measurements, and give insight to the dynamics of the switch closure process. 9 refs., 8 figs., 2 tabs.

Research Organization:
Sandia National Labs., Albuquerque, NM (USA)
DOE Contract Number:
AC04-76DP00789
OSTI ID:
6058360
Report Number(s):
SAND-88-3437C; CONF-890665-18; ON: DE89013815
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English