Integral, Long Lifetime, Laser Diode Triggered Gas Switch Based on Light Initiated Multigate Switch

An integral, long-lifetime, laser diode-triggered 50 kV/10 kA gas switch based on a kind of fast named light-initiated multigate switch (LIMS), is described in this article. The principle of this switch is that LIMS, which is long-lifetime triggered by a laser diode, is used to control the trigger pulse generation of a capacitor discharge circuit (CDC). The trigger pulse is multiplied and reversed polarity by a transformer. The capacitor in CDC is charged directly with the energy of the main circuit. As a result, this switch can work without any trigger charge power source and can be triggered by a laser with only several tens of microjoule, making it more compact and cost-effective than traditional electrical or optical trigger switches. Experimental results show that the longevity of a laser diode-triggered 50 kV/10 kA gas switch is more than 1.02 million triggered with 62.3 mu J laser energy, the jitter is about 5.4 ns, and the average ratio of self-breakdown is about 0.14%.