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This paper introduces the work undertaken to reliably use off-the-shelf differentiating voltage probes attached to coaxial transmission lines. The results obtained prove that indeed such probes are a valid and simple instrument for measuring nanosecond and subnanosecond voltage impulses. As a bonus, this paper also highlighted an important challenging phenomenon that appears whenever an attempt is made to measure fast voltage impulses with a differentiating probe positioned too close to the closing switch of a pulse forming line generator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The temperature dependence of the Kerr constant for water has been determined over the range 19 °C–45 °C at a wavelength of 658 nm. This paper presents the experimental arrangement used for this purpose and the data obtained, for which a polynomial fit is provided. A formula is also suggested to help estimate the variation of the Kerr constant for water with both temperature and wavelength. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

SPHINX is a microsecond linear transformer driver located at Atomic Energy Comission (CEA) Gramat (France), which can deliver a current pulse of 6 MA within 800 ns in a Z -pinch load. Using the concept of the dynamic load current multiplier (DLCM), which was proposed by Chuvatin, we expect to increase the load current above 6 MA, while decreasing its rise time to \sim300 ns. The DLCM developed by the CEA Gramat and International Technologies for High Pulsed Power (ITHPP) is a compact system made up of concentric electrodes (autotransformer), a dynamic flux extruder (cylindrical wire array), a vacuum convolute (eight post-hole rods), and a closing switch (compact vacuum surface switch). The latter is a key component of the system, which is used to prevent the current from flowing into the load until the inductance builds up due to the implosion of the wire array. This paper presents the design and testing of the DLCM surface switch, resulting from both electrostatic simulations and experiments on the SPHINX generator. These studies, carried out either with or without load (open circuit), were valuable for a first experimental evaluation of the DLCM scheme in a microsecond regime and provided detailed information on the surface switch behavior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]