Reliable, Low-Jitter 100-kV Trigger Generator

A fast-rise (<5 ns), low-jitter (<3 ns) HV pulse generator was developed for triggering field-distortion and railgap switches. The front end is entirely solid state and does not rely upon thermionic devices (e.g. thyratrons). The command pulse is first amplified to
$\approx 1$
kV. Voltage multiplication is accomplished by a four-stage inductive adder that produces a fast-rise (16 ns) trigger pulse for a highly-compact (21 kg), 3-stage Mark generator with 19 J of stored energy. The system achieves a peak voltage >100 kV into a cable-matched load (50
$\Omega)$
. Both positive and negative output polarities are available.