Design considerations for a low jitter trigatron

Since it was first described in 1946, the trigatron spark gap has found wide use as a triggered high voltage switch. This presentation considers some of the pertinent aspects involved in the efficient design of a high voltage, low jitter trigatron. The approach taken was to check the test methodology by evaluating the performance of an existing triggered switch. The information gained led to the design of an enhanced performance trigatron. The test switch used in the present study is described by Thornton (1989) and was driven by a 10 stage Marx generator. It was designed to withstand 500 kV in air and 1 MV in transformer oil. The trigger signal was derived from a single stage RC circuit discharged through a spark gap and a coaxial delay line. A capacitive trigger was taken from the erecting Marx to initiate the trigger circuit. The trigger pulse was inverted by a 1:1 inverting TLT, resulting in the optimum trigatron configuration of a positive trigger pulse with a negative main pulse.<>