I. Introduction
The compact pulsed-power device built by using capacitors, gas switches, transmission lines, and loads has the characteristics of low inductance, high peak current, and high di/dt. It is widely used in the applications of pulsed power, including isentropic compression, exploding wire phenomena, and pulse-high magnetic fields [1], [2], [3], [4], [5]. This device comprises a number of basic units connected in parallel to the load through parallel plate transmission lines to achieve low inductance. Each basic unit is composed of a capacitor and a switch. The load obtains the pulse current with the maximum efficiency and the shortest rise time through the synchronous discharge of multiparallel switches [6]. However, there is hardly any transitional isolation time between the parallel gas switches due to the structural design of the device, where this leads to later breakdown switches affecting earlier ones, such that the voltage across the former decreases rapidly. The breakdown of the later switches is thus inhibited, and they may fail to conduct [7], [8]. In general, the relevant parameters of the capacitors (excluding the parallel gas switches), the parallel plate transmission lines, and the loads can be determined at the outset of the design of the device. Therefore, the operating characteristics of parallel gas switches are important and require a detailed evaluation.