Blue Milo Axial Diode Gap Optimization Using the Pulsed-Power Circuit Code Screamer

Abstract

BLUE MILO is an LTD-based, GW-class, HPM system that is currently being constructed at the University of Michigan's Plasma, Pulsed Power, and Microwave Laboratory. A comprehensive circuit model of the BLUE MILO system based on the pulsed-power code Screamer is presented. The LTD cavity model incorporates the Tom Martin lossy switch known to correctly predict the switch's energy losses, and the MILO model includes Child-Langmuir axial and radial diodes that simulate the charge-limited current flows. The scaling of the system's electrical power depending on the number of BLUE cavities, as well as predictions of different output parameters as a function of the MILO axial diode gap, are discussed.