The design and testing of an extended lifetime, high voltage, low jitter trigatron for repetitive operation

One of the main high voltage pulsed power switches currently in use is the high pressure trigatron. It has achieved wide popularity due to its potential for high voltage low jitter operation. The trigatron does however tend to have a limited operating lifetime due to pin erosion, especially when operated repetitively. This paper describes the design and testing of a trigatron spark gap capable of extended lifetime repetitive operation. The trigatron described has been operated at voltages of up to 500 kV at a repetition rate of 100 pps. The trigatron uses a source of negative ions to ensure an initiatory electron supply which leads to sub-nanosecond jitter. To minimise erosion, the region around the trigger electrode was designed using an electrostatic modelling technique. As a result, the trigger electrode design has been optimised producing an overall design with a predicted lifetime of 10/sup 6/ shots.