Fast SCR Thyratron Driver
As part of an improvement project on the linear accelerator at SLAC, it was necessary to replace the original thyratron trigger generator, which consisted of two chassis, two vacuum tubes, and a small thyratron. All solid-state, fast rise, and high voltage thyratron drivers, therefore, have been developed and built for the 244 klystron modulators. The rack mounted, single chassis driver employs a unique way to control and generate pulses through the use of an asymmetric SCR, a PFN, a fast pulse transformer, and a saturable reactor. The resulting output pulse is 2 kV peak into 50 {Omega} load with pulse duration of 1.5 {mu}s FWHM at 180 Hz. The pulse risetime is less than 40 ns with less than 1 ns jitter. Various techniques are used to protect the SCR from being damaged by high voltage and current transients due to thyratron breakdowns. The end-of-line clipper (EOLC) detection circuit is also integrated into this chassis to interrupt the modulator triggering in the event a high percentage of line reflections occurred.
- Research Organization:
- Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC02-76SF00515
- OSTI ID:
- 908993
- Report Number(s):
- SLAC-PUB-12590
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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