UV Radiation triggered rail-gap switch

Abstract

The UV radiation triggered rail-gap switch applies a high voltage from a low impedance source to a low impedance load. The switch includes first and second parallel elongated electrodes spaced to form a uniform gap along their length. The first electrode is adapted to be connected to the high voltage source, while the second electrode is adapted to be connected to the low impedance load. When a voltage from the source is applied to the electrodes, one electrode will be positive relative to the other electrode. In addition, the cross-section of each of the electrodes is sufficiently smooth to prevent points of high field concentration between the electrode. This cross-section is defined by the field enhancement factor of each electrode which is preferably less than 1.5. The switch also includes an enclosure in which the electrodes are located and which contains a gas mixture for maintaining the breakdown threshold between the electrodes. A preferred gas mixture includes Ar, N.sub.2, and SF.sub.6 at a gas pressure selected to prevent breakdown in the switch until triggered by a UV radiation source. The UV radiation source directs a beam of radiation substantially parallel to the pair of electrodes, preferably near the positive electrode, for initiating multi-channel, sub-nanosecond jitter, breakdown in the gap between the electrodes. The UV radiation may be obtained from either an incoherent radiation source or an UV laser source, but should be of short duration in the form of a narrow beam which is uniform along its cross-section.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.