A compact, low cost Marx bank for generating capillary discharge plasmas

Journal article

We describe in detail a low power Compact Marx Bank (CMB) circuit that can provide 20 kV, 500A pulses of approximately 100–200 ns duration. One application is the generation of capillary discharge plasmas of density ≈ 1018 cm􀀀3 used in laser plasma accelerators. The CMB is tiggered with a high speed solid state switch and gives a HV output pulse with a ns scale rise time into a 50Ω load (coaxial cable) with < 4 ns voltage jitter. Its small size (10 cm × 25 cm × 5 cm) means that it can be placed right next to the capillary discharge in the target chamber so avoiding the need to impedance match. The electrical energy required per discharge is < 1 J and the CMB can be run at shot repetition rates of >∼ 1 Hz. This low power requirement means the circuit can easily be powered by a small lead acid battery and so therefore can be floated relative to laboratory earth. The CMB is readily scalable and pulses > 45 kV are demonstrated in air discharges.

Authors: Hooker, S; Dyson, A; Thornton, C

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: AIP Publishing
• Journal: Review of Scientific Instruments
• Volume: 87
• Issue: 093302
• Publication date: 2016-09-09
• Acceptance date: 2016-08-17
• DOI: 10.1063/1.4961913
• EISSN: 1089-7623
• ISSN: 0034-6748