A Two-Stage DSRD-Based High-Power Nanosecond Pulse Generator.

Drift step recovery diodes (DSRDs) have a special place in high-power short-pulse generation. In this paper, a cascaded configuration of two DSRD-based high-power shortpulse generators with gas discharge switches was used. The highpower pulses generated in the first stage feed the second stage in order to generate shorter pulses with higher peak powers. A prototype was implemented based on this idea. In the first stage, 1.2-kV pulses were generated from a 50-V power supply. At the output of the second stage, 2.1-kV pulses with a repetition rate of more than 50 Hz were obtained. The output peak voltage was limited by the breakdown voltage of the used DSRD. Repetitive pulses with 4-ns rise time and 1.3-kW peak power were obtained. The maximum input power was 4.1 W which showed 320 times increase in the peak power. The maximum efficiency of 20% was obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]