Characteristics of pulsed power generator by versatile inductive voltage adder

A pulsed power generator by inductive voltage adder, versatile inductive voltage adder (VIVA-I), which features a high average potential gradient (2.5 MV/m), was designed and is currently in operation,. It was designed to produce an output pulse of 4 MV/60 ns by adding 2 MV pulses in two-stages of induction cells, where amorphous cores are installed. As a pulse forming line, we used a Blumlein line with the switching reversed, where cores are automatically biased due to the presence of prepulse. Good reproducibility was obtained even in the absence of the reset pulse. Within ∼40% of full charge voltage, pulsed power characteristics of Marx generator, pulse forming line (PFL), transmission line (TL), and induction cells were tested for three types of loads; open-circuit, dummy load of liquid (CuSO 4 ) resistor, and electron beam diode. In the open-circuit test, ∼2.0 MV of output voltage was obtained with good reproducibility. Dependences of output voltage on diode impedances were evaluated by using various dummy loads, and the results were found as expected. An electron-beam diode was operated successfully, and ∼18 kA of beam current was obtained at the diode voltage of ∼1 MV.