Performance of Plasma Erosion Opening Switches in High Voltage Pulsed Power Compression

Abstract
The plasma erosion opening switch was investigated for use in a pulsed power compression system. The effects of plasma injection velocity and injection polarity to the switch operation were studied experimentally. Using high injection velocity plasma, high impedance (up to 100 Ω) and high voltage (up to 6.4 MV) operation is possible. Comparison between experimental data and analytic calculations of the time history of the plasma erosion opening switch implied that a self magnetic pressure effect is important for fast, high impedance opening of the switch.

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