Solid state fast transition kickers for accelerator applications

Kicker requirements have become more complicated with each new accelerator design. This paper will talk about two designs, one for electrostatic kickers and one for electromagnetic kickers. The electrostatic kicker achieves a 20 kV transition on a 200 pF strip-line within 220 ns from trigger at a maximum transition frequency of 40 kHz using less than 8 kW at full power. The electromagnetic kicker achieves 1000 A into a 0.523 μh magnet with a 50 ns rise time operating at a maximum frequency of 20 Hz. Both systems are all solid state. The electrostatic kicker operates using a fast resonant charge circuit combined with a slow maintenance circuit in a push-pull configuration operating at ±10 kV. The rise time of the voltage change is less than 100 ns and either state can be maintained indefinitely. The magnet kicker operates using a PFN and a fast thyristor based switch followed by a small pulse compression circuit.