Development of All Solid-state Pulse Generator for Pulsed Laser

Abstract

A solid-state pulse generator has been developed to be applicable to drive a high power pulse laser. The new technology provids a promising mean to replace the thyratrons.
The pulse generator is constructed with series and parallel connection of MOS FET (Maximum Rating; 1, 000V, 8A) without any saturable reactors for sharpening the current pulse waveform. With 60-parallel and 20-series connected of FETs, the characteristics of the pulse generator are that the switching time is 38ns, the rate of rise of the current pulse is 20A/ns, and that the jitter of the turn-on time to the input signal is ±0.42ns.
Appling the pulse generator with 120-parallel and 30-series connected of FETs to a 80mm bore copper vapor laser, the laser power obtained is 112W when switched pulse energy is 2J with a repetition rate of 5kHz.