High coulombic thyratron development: test equipment and device performance

A thyratron-like device capable of conducting multi-kiloamp multi-coulomb current pulses for high energy capacitor bank discharge applications is currently under development. The development phase has necessitated the design, construction and commissioning of an appropriate test equipment with parameters which closely simulate those of one of the intended applications. Both the test equipment and the progress to date on the pulsed power switch development are described by the authors.