Del Mar Photonics product brochures
Green-laser-triggered Water Switching at 1.6 MV
Woodworth, J.R.; Molina, I.; Nelson, D.; Maenchen, J.; Sarkisov, G.; Blickem,
J.; Starbird, R.; Wilkins, F.; Van DeValde, D.; Johnson, D.L.
Dielectrics and Electrical Insulation, IEEE Transactions on [see also Electrical
Insulation, IEEE Transactions on]
Volume 14, Issue 4, Aug. 2007 Page(s):951 - 957
Summary:Multiple water switches are used in the self-breaking
mode in many large pulsed power systems. We are studying laser-triggering of
water switches at voltages of up to 1.6 MV to see whether we can lower the
command jitter of water switches. We have previously reported studies of 170 kV
water switching with command jitters as low as plusmn2 ns. The 1.6 MV triggering
experiments reported here are performed on a water switch in the middle of a 1.8
m long 7.8 Omega coaxial water line that is directly charged by a 65 kJ Marx
generator. The 10 to 90% rise-time of the sinusoidal pulse impressed across the
water switch is 250 ns. To trigger the switch, we transport a green laser beam
(0.4 J, 7 ns pulsewidth) radially inward though the water of the coaxial line to
a 'dry box' inside the inner coax line. There, the laser beam is turned 90
degrees and focused through a hole in one electrode to a breakdown arc in the
water between the switch electrodes. Best results, of plusmn 8.3 ns jitter and
100 ns delay at 60% of the self-break voltage, have been achieved using an axicon lens
(Del Mar Photonics, Inc.) to focus the beam to a long narrow chain of point breakdowns between
the switch electrodes.
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