Plasma opening switch scaling relationships derived from operations in the "switch limited" regime

Summary form only given. The Defense Special Weapons Agency has accumulated data on plasma opening switch (POS) operations on a number of different pulse power drivers including HAWK at NRL, DM at Physics International, and ACE 4 at Maxwell resulting in a large data base spanning a wide range of conduction times (200 to 1500 ns) and conduction currents (400 to 5000 kA). In this paper the data is examined to draw conclusions on how POS performance scales over this range when the POS is operating in the "switch limited" regime, i.e. where the POS output voltage is below the voltage which would be generated if all the available current from the POS flowed to the load. By examining the entire data base scaling relationships can be established. Dependent variables such as POS voltage, flow impedance, and gap are examined as functions of conduction time, conduction current, plasma density, and magnetic field. The analysis indicates where simple pictures of POS operations appear adequate and where additional independent variables (such as electrode surface conditioning) are required.