An ultra compact back-lighted thyratron for nanosecond switching applications

An ultra-compact back-lighted thyratron (BLT), which is also named as mini-BLT, with effective volume of 15 cm³ was developed to serve as a high voltage switch in compact transient plasma ignition systems. The mini-BLT can hold off 40 kV and was used to conduct a peak current up to 4.5 kA. A 30 ns switching delay with 2 ns jitter was achieved when triggered by a 70 mJ, 355 nm laser pulse. Delay and jitter increase as the photon energy of the trigger pulse decreases. The plasma density in the switch measured at a peak current of 3.2 kA is 9×10¹⁴cm^-3. The mini-BLT was successfully used as the switch in a 100 ns, 60 kV pulse generator for generation of streamers in a plasma ignition system.