The Semiconductor Power Supply for Copper Bromide Laser Excitation

The paper presents the result of the copper bromide laser excitation source development and study. Metal vapor lasers have some application in different area (high-speed imaging system, micromachining of materials). Conventionally excitation source for metal vapor laser use gas-filled switching devices (thyratrons, tacitron) which have some disadvantages. Semiconductor switching elements (transistors) have a number of advantages in compare with gas-filled. In this paper we present excitation source based on Linear Transform Driver-generator concept. In this concept high-voltage pulse are formed by simultaneous operation of typical cells The principle of operation of the supply, its distinctive features are presented. As well as the features of the transistor control pulses formation. The power supply provides requirement levels of voltage and current with good slew rate (about 1 A/ns). Maximum voltage is equal to 8 kV and maximal power of the source is 800 W. The radiation power is 300 mW when pulse repetition frequency is 100 kHz.