A four pulse drive system for the beam induction cells and injector for DARHT Axis 2

The proposed drive system allows for the generation of up to four high-quality radiographic pulses along one line-of-sight, having arbitrary pulse spacing (/spl ap/ 500 ns). This concept uses a four-pulse drive system to drive both a 16 MeV ensemble of 250 kV, 4 kA induction cells and a four-pulse, 4 MeV injector. The key to this approach lies in the method used to combine four pulses from different generators in a manner that does not compromise the voltage flatness requirement of /spl plusmn/1%. The induction cells use core material for only a single pulse and use a simple reverse bias circuit to reset the cores between pulses. A dual double-pulse format has been identified which provides a sequence of two pulses along one line-of-sight within a 2-/spl mu/sec window followed by a similar sequence of two pulses along the same line-of-sight within a second 2-/spl mu/sec window. The 2-/spl mu/sec windows can be separated by arbitrary time intervals of 2- to 10-/spl mu/sec.