Opening Switch Performance into a Diode Load on FALCON

FALCON is a fast Marx bank which stores 1.1 MJ at an output voltage of 720kV. For the experiments described here, FALCON produced currents of 2.2 MA with a quarter period of 1.5 /spl mu/s into a diode short. Up to 61 kJ have been coupled into a bremsstrahlung diode in a 140-ns pulse. X-ray measurements corroborated the electrical measurements of the diode energy. The opening switch impedance has been the basis for circuit simulations of the DECADE generator.