Demonstrated command-triggering of a plasma opening switch

The addition of command triggering to the high energy density of inductive energy storage could have applications to very precisely synchronized pulsers or multi-module drivers. This paper describes an experiment to test the concept of command triggering, and to measure the trigger energy required under well-defined conditions. The opening switch reliably triggers over a wide range-the storage inductor quarter-cycle time. Results from the pulsed power testing, calculations of the magnetic field in the plasma acceleration region, and results from the initial experiments with the triggered stage are shown here. Initial experiments demonstrate triggering over a range of a factor of 16 difference in conducted charge.