Investigation of Electrical Trigger Systems for a Back Lighted Thyratron

This paper discusses electrical triggering experiments for an electrically triggered, super-emissive cathode switch. An electrically triggered, Back Lighted Thyratron, BLT, was investigated when operating in a high impedance discharge circuit. The BLT is a low pressure, hollow cathode type closing switch that can be either electrically or optically triggered. The BLT has been operated at voltages in excess of 50kV and peak current levels up to 50A.