A nonlinear transmission line based on periodically placed silicon high voltage switches

The generation of high-power nanosecond radio frequency pulses is obtained by means of sequential commutation of silicon high voltage switches periodically placed in a nonlinear transmission line. The coaxial transmission line had the inner conductor made in the form of a corrugated periodic structure. The dispersive characteristics of the transmission line were optimized for RF generation by an electromagnetic shock front using numerical simulation. In the experiment, nanosecond RF pulses at frequency near 1 GHz were obtained for 2 kV incident pulses. The peak-to-peak amplitude of the excited oscillations reached about 30% of the amplitude of the incident pulse.