A Sealed High Pressure Two Electrode Spark Gap For High Repetition Rate High Voltage Fast Swtiching

There is considerable interest at present in extending the high repetition rate capabilities of high voltage spark gaps whilst maintaining fast switching times. Devices with these capabilities would be suitable for applications such as the pulse sharpening of very high voltage microsecond risetime pulses. The results of tests on a number of two electrode compact sealed spark gaps are described. These devices are stand-alone components of envelope size, 60 mm diamter and 45 mm length. The devices were tested using half sine pulses of 500 ns risetime at repetition rates of up to 1 kHz. Successful operation at 120 kV, 1 kHz was achieved whilst maintaining a measured collapse time of 2 ns. is believed that this time was limited by the inductance of the test housing, since previous tests on lower voltage devices of similar gap spacing showed the collapse time to be less than 500 ps. Measurements of breakdown voltage and jitter at increasing repetition rates showed that a two stage recovery of voltage hold off capability occurred in agreement with other reported results. It