Developments toward laser diode driven bistable photoconductive switches (BOSS)

The bistable optically-controlled semiconductor switch (BOSS) is the only completely controllable high power solid-state switch which operates on sub-nanosecond to microsecond time scales. The present state of BOSS technology for pulsed power applications is discussed, including the limits of operation and potential extensions of these limits. Experiments to measure the electric field distribution during switching and the threshold breakdown fields for small gap (/spl sime/10's of /spl mu/m) GaAs switches are described. From these results, operating parameters for a laser diode controlled BOSS configuration are presented.