Erection of Compact Marx Generators

In recent decades, Marx generators have trended toward more compact topologies and have increasingly been used as part of high-power electromagnetic sources. The compact geometry is typically accomplished by simplifying the circuit design to the stage components according to the well-known theory of Marx erection with operational goals of hundreds of kilovolts at low energies per pulse. The ease in which these simple generators can be assembled belies the difficulty encountered in obtaining the performance seemingly predicted by the simple theory of operation. One often unanticipated behavior is the poor-to-nonexistent triggering performance observed in a compact Marx generator. A detailed circuit analysis of the compact Marx generator has yielded the root causes limiting the erection process, as well as providing guidelines for design and operation.