PCSS triggered pulsed power switches

This paper describes results from a 3 year project to develop fiber-optically controlled trigger generators (TG) from high gain photoconductive semiconductor switches (PCSSs) for high voltage switches (HVSs) in pulsed power applications. Triggers for HVSs are critical components for reliable, efficient pulsed power systems because they control the timing synchronization and amplitude variation of multiple pulse forming lines that combine to produce the total output. Proposed pulse power systems are even more dependent on triggering as they consist of many triggered HVSs and produce shaped-pulses by independent timing of the HVSs.