Novel gigawatt power modulator for RF sources

A novel method for producing high voltage rectangular pulses for driving RF sources is described. The approach uses two advances in pulsed power technology: 1) The BLT switch and 2) Novel transmission line transformer techniques using switches between lines. Experimentally demonstrated is a modulator producing 80 kV, 800 A output pulse requiring only 22 kV switch voltage. The output pulse is /spl sim/120 nsec long with <40 nsec rise and fall times. A modulator designed to produce 1 MV, 1 kA output pulse using 50 kV switches is described and simulated by computer. The application of this modulator to drive RF sources for advanced accelerators is discussed.<>