Discharge circuit for pulsed laser and pulsed power source

A discharge circuit for pulsed laser comprising:

• a power source;
• main discharge electrodes for generating a laser beam;
• a main discharge capacitor charged with electrical charges for generating main discharge between the main discharge electrodes;
• a preionization electrode for preionizing a space between the main discharge electrodes;
• a preliminary discharge capacitor charged with electrical charges for generating preliminary discharge at the preionization electrode;
• a switching circuit for performing switching operations to charge the main discharge capacitor and preionization capacitor with electrical charges from the power source in a prescribed repetition cycle;
• and
• a one-way circuit element provided in a direction opposite to the direction in which a reverse current flows from the power source caused by overshoot generated directly after the main discharge, and serially to the preionization electrode so as to prevent the reverse current from flowing to the preionization electrode.

A pulsed power source apparatus comprising:

• a pulse generating circuit for generating pulsed current from an initially charged capacitor via a pulse transformer as controlled by a semiconductor switch;
• a magnetic pulse compressor circuit for performing magnetic pulse compression on the pulsed current attained on a secondary side of the pulse transformer by means of a magnetic switch operation of a saturable reactor, and supplying the pulsed current thus compressed to a load having main discharge electrodes and a peaking capacitor connected parallel to the main discharge electrodes;
• a series circuit of a diode and a Zener diode provided in a parallel connection to the peaking capacitor of the load;
• the diode being oriented to prevent the peaking capacitor from being recharged in the opposite polarity after being charged during discharge recovery of the main discharge electrodes;
• and
• the Zener diode having Zener voltage for generating clamp voltage to prevent the secondary side of the pulse transformer from entering a short circuit state in response to the application of magnetic reset voltage for putting the pulse transformer in an unsaturated state.