Development of a compact Marx generator for high-power microwave applications

One of the goals of the High-Energy Sources Division of the Advanced Weapons and Survivability Directorate at the Phillips Laboratory is to develop high-power microwave sources and the related pulsed power. The development of a compact Marx generator to drive loads with impedances on the order of 10 Ohms will be discussed. It is an 8 stage design, 4 stages charged to +100kV and 4 stages charged to -100kV, that stores 19.2 kJ at full charge. The Marx, excluding the trigger generator, has a diameter of 0.9 m and a height of 0.7 m. The entire assembly is housed in a 1.2 m diameter aluminum pipe pressurized with 30 psig sulfur-hexafluoride. The same sulfur-hexaflouride that insulates the Marx from its container also serves as the working gas in the gas-insulated switches of the Marx. In experiments to date the Marx has been fired hundreds of times at full voltage into loads varying in impedance from 5 to 10 Ohms. The design and fabrication of the Marx generator and the experimental results will be given.