A linear, single-stage, nanosecond pulse generator for delivering intense electric fields to biological loads

A compact pulse generator capable of producing high voltage pulses with halfmaximum widths as short as 2.5 ns and amplitudes as high as 5 kV has been developed to enable current and future in vivo and in vitro research into the effects of ultra-short, intense electric fields on biological matter. This pulse generator is small, simple, and free of saturable magnetic cores, which frequently introduce amplitude jitter and an undesirable correlation between amplitude and pulse width. In place of a non-linear pulse-forming network is a single-stage resonant network that drives a bank of junction recovery diodes. The diodes function as an opening switch that commutes current from an inductor to a resistive load. The use of air-core inductors in the resonant network results in a stable output pulse with an amplitude that scales linearly with input voltage and a pulse width that is independent of amplitude. The ability to scale the output amplitude independently of the pulse width simplifies the setup for experiments that require pulses with different electric field strengths but the same rise time and duration. Jurkat T lymphoblast cells exposed to 2.5 ns fields produced by this pulse generator showed an increasing degree of electropermeabilization with increasing pulse dosage and electric field intensity.