Generation of steady and jitter-free sub-nanosecond electrical pulses with GaAs photoconductive switches

In this paper, experiments of a lateral semi-insulating GaAs photoconductive semiconductor switch triggered by nanosecond laser pulses were reported. The switches were insulated by solid multi-layer transparent dielectrics. Jitter-free electrical pulses with steady voltage amplitude from the 0.5 mm-gap GaAs switches were observed when biased with low voltage and triggered by serial laser pulses. Its change of amplitude was less than 1.2%, the triggered jitter-time was less than 10ps, and pulse width was up to sub-nanosecond. The effect of pulse energy change on the amplitude generated photoconductive semiconductor switch was analyzed. It was indicated that ultra-fast electrical pulse with steady voltage amplitude and pico-second triggered jitter-time can be obtained by controlling switch trigger condition and optimizing switch design.