Application of a 100 kV sub-nanosecond rise-time pulser to material testing

For some years the High Voltage Laboratory at City University has had a 100 kV cable pulser with a pulse rise time of less than 0.3 nanoseconds. The 100 kV high value charging resistor protects the DC charging source from being shorted when the pulser operates. The 100 kV 50 ohm charging cable is connected through a switch and then by a very short cable to the co-axial test cell and its matching resistor. Materials tested in the cell could be liquids or surge diverter blocks, etc., where it is important to be able to calculate the resistance-voltage characteristic and energy dissipation. The authors describe the method used to obtain this data from the voltage waveform given at the matching resistor attenuator.<>