Investigation and application of 100 kV repetitive gas switches

The tri-electrode gas switch and two-electrode rail-gap switch were designed. Experiments for breakdown-voltage and repetitive operation of these switches were done in different gas pressure and gap conditions. The results show the relation between breakdown-voltage and gas pressure is linear. Breakdown-voltage of two-electrode rail-gap switch with 8 mm gap can be adjusted from 90 to 125 kV at gas pressure 0.1 to 0.2 MPa. Operating voltage of trigger switch with 7 mm gap can be adjusted from 40 to 95 kV. Repetitive operation rate of these switches was up to 20 Hz with 20 kA current. Based on these switches, an 8-stage compact Marx generator was setup. Multi-pulse output with 5 or 10 Hz repetitive rate was gained in experiments. The output peak power was about 7 GW for 5 Hz, and 3.5 GW for 10 Hz with pulse width (FWHM) of 150 ns.