A novel compact 35 A/150 ps current pulse generator for a new generation of the laser radars

A current pulse generator is presented which allows a 35 A current amplitude with a rise time of 150 ps to be achieved across a low-ohmic load. The generator is based on an avalanche transistor matrix with intrinsic switching synchronisation. The front of the pulse is further sharpened by employing sub-nanosecond diode recovery in the first stage and super-fast switching of another diode under pulsed reverse biasing in the second stage. An application of this current pulse for the feeding of a high-power gain-switched semiconductor laser is demonstrated.