Gas-Tube Isolator Circuit for Phased Arrays

An arcing amplifier in a large amplifier array operating from a common power supply and energy storage bank must be isolated from the rest of the system to permit continuous operation of the system. A gas-tube isolator circuit is proposed wherein the tube is programmed to charge the individual secondary capacitance bank of each amplifier during the interpulse interval. Since the gas tube is nonconducting during the pulsing period of the amplifier, it isolates the amplifier from the rest of the system in case of a fault.