2.8-MV Low-Inductance Low-Jitter Electrical-Triggered Gas Switch

Megavolt-class-triggered switches play a key role in large-induction voltage adder accelerators. This paper introduces a 2.8-MV, low-inductance, low-jitter, electrical-triggered, gas SF 6 switch. The main section is a $V/n$ switch and the pretrigger section is a trigatron switch. Based on electric field simulation, experiment, and analysis, the structure and spacing of gaps, location of trigger disk, diaphragm, and switch inductance are all discussed. The primary test indicates that the switch can be operated in the range of 0.85–2.76 MV with the pressure of the SF 6 changing from 0.1 to 0.9 MPa. The self-breakdown voltage is linearly related to the logarithm of the pressure, as the gap spacing and the voltage rise time are fixed. Three working modes were observed: self-breakdown, self-triggered, and ex-triggered. In the triggered modes, the switch jitter is <3 ns and the switch inductance is usually below 150 nH.