Double Pulse Generator for Unipolar Discharges in Long Plasma Tubes for the AWAKE Experiment

High-voltage pulsed gas discharges can produce suitable plasma for wakefield particle acceleration experiments. Such plasmas are challenging loads characterized by significant parasitic elements and fast impedance transitions leading to hard-to-predict dynamic behavior. This hinders the use of solid...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:IEEE transactions on plasma science 2023-12, Vol.51 (12), p.1-9
Main Authors: Torrado, Nuno E., Lopes, Nelson C., Silva, J. Fernando A., Amoedo, Carolina, Sublet, Alban
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Discharges (electric)
Electric arcs
Electron tubes
Gas discharges
Heating systems
high-voltage techniques
Ignition
Impedance
insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBT)
Ionization
Low currents
Particle acceleration
Plasma
plasma generation
plasma heating
Plasmas
Pulse generation
Pulse generators
pulse power systems
pulse transformers
semiconductor switches
Snubbers
Spark gaps
Thyratrons
Tubes
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:High-voltage pulsed gas discharges can produce suitable plasma for wakefield particle acceleration experiments. Such plasmas are challenging loads characterized by significant parasitic elements and fast impedance transitions leading to hard-to-predict dynamic behavior. This hinders the use of solid-state pulse generators to replace inefficient and limited lifetime spark gaps or thyratrons. This article presents the development, simulation, and test of a new semiconductor-based double pulse generator for a 5-m-long plasma load. It uses two successive pulses. The first one consists of a step-up inductive discharge and leads to a low current arc (10 A) enough to set the plasma to a low impedance state. The second pulse, generated by a capacitive discharge, increases the arc current up to 400 A. The pulses are generated by two subcircuits integrated together and tested, showing a substantial reduction of the required instantaneous power compared with the one needed using a single pulse and resulting in a high ionization fraction gas discharge pulse with nanosecond jitter.
ISSN:0093-3813
1939-9375
DOI:10.1109/TPS.2023.3337314