Analysis of Output Pulse of High Voltage and Nanosecond Blumlein Pulse Generator

Abstract

A high voltage and nanosecond Blumlein pulse generator has been developed to produce an output pulse whose voltage level is greater than 250 kV and pulse duration 5 ns. The generator consists of various components such as a charging circuit, a pulse transformer, and a spark gap switch. As a heart of the generator, a Blumlein pulse forming line has been constructed in the cylindrical form using three cylindrical aluminum electrodes that are placed concentrically. Unlike the ideal Blumlein line, the output pulse of an actual Blumlein line may be affected by stray inductances and capacitances of switching and charging components, thereby degrading the performance of the generator. In this paper, PSPICE simulations have been performed to examine effects of stray inductances and capacitances on waveforms of output pulses. Simulation results show that the pulse waveform is significantly distorted mainly by the stray inductance of the spark gap switch.