Breakdown characteristic of high pressure hydrogen gas subnanosecond switch

Gas switches can be used to produce high power electromagnetic pulses with very fast risetime in UWB radiation systems. Due to its promising prospect in repetitive rate application, the experimental study on the high pressure hydrogen switch is conducted under pressure of 4 to 13 MPa and electrode gap spacing of 0.4 to 1.2 mm.The switch is pulse charged to more than 200 kV in less than 2 ns. Fast pulses with risetime less than 240 ps are obtained. The average breakdown electric field strength ranges from 3 to 7 MV/cm.The closure time of the hydrogen gaps decreases slightly with increasing the pressure or decreasing the gap space．