Diffuse discharge circuit breaker

An apparatus of a direct current (DC) circuit breaker operable to interrupt a current flow in an electrical circuit, the DC circuit breaker comprising:

• a mechanical switch including a pair of contacts configured to be positioned apart upon activation of the DC circuit breaker;
• and
• one or more photoconductive components, each having a volume that is capable of handling a peak current of over 5 kA, wherein the one or more photoconductive components are in parallel with the mechanical switch, wherein the one or more photoconductive components are configured to establish a current upon activation of the DC circuit breaker, and wherein each of the one or more photoconductive components comprises:
• a crystalline material positioned to receive a pulsed light signal having a pulse width of 10-20 μs from a light source, wherein the crystalline material is doped with a dopant that forms two or more mid-gap states within a bandgap of the crystalline material to achieve, upon excitation of the crystalline material by the pulsed light signal, a recombination time that is at least one order of magnitude smaller than a characteristic time of a highest frequency component of an electrical signal controlling the light source such that the crystalline material exhibits a substantially linear transconductance in response to the light source;
• and
• a pair of electrodes coupled to the crystalline material and configured to allow an electric field to be established across the crystalline material to generate the current,
• wherein a total volume of the one or more photoconductive components is around 9,000 cm3.