A Solid-State Nanosecond Beam Kicker Modulator Based on the DSRD Switch

A fast solid-state beam kicker modulator is under development at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The program goal is to develop a modulator that will deliver 4 ns, {+-}5 kV pulses to the ATF2 damping ring beam extraction kicker. The kicker is a 50 {Omega}, bipolar strip line, 60 cm long, fed at the downstream end and terminated at the upstream end. The bunch spacing in the ring is 5.6 ns, bunches are removed from the back end of the train, and there is a gap of 103.6 ns before the next train. The modulator design is based on an opening switch topology that uses Drift Step Recovery Diodes as the opening switches. The design and results of the modulator development are discussed. There are many applications that benefit from very fast high power switching. However, at MW power levels and nanosecond time scales, solid state options are limited. One option, the Drift Step Recovery Diode (DSRD) has been demonstrated as capable of blocking thousands of volts and switching in nanosecond to sub-nanosecond ranges. When used as an opening switch, the DSRD exhibits a very fast turn off transient. The process is described in detail by its pioneers in [5,6]. In essence, charge is pumped into and then extracted from the DSRD under pulsed conditions. The turn off transient occurs precisely when the pumped charge is equal to the extracted charge and the DSRD is switched off. At the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, a DSRD is being used as an opening switch in the development of a fast kicker modulator. The modulator is designed to create {+-}5kV pulses with <1ns rise and fall time on a 50{Omega} strip line kicker. As is common in beam optics, the absence of power in the kicker before and after the pulse is very important. The entire {+-}5kV kicker modulator is composed of two identical 5kV pulsing circuits, each with its own DSRD component. This paper describes the modulator topology and the status of tests on one of the two 5kV pulse circuits.