Marx Bank Technology for Accelerators and Colliders

Diversified Technologies, Inc. (DTI) has developed high power, solid-state Marx bank designs for a range of accelerator and collider designs. We estimate the Marx topology can deliver equivalent performance to conventional designs, while reducing system costs by 25-50%. In this paper DTI will describe the application of Marx based technology to two different designs: a long-pulse ILC focused design (140 kV, 160 A, 1.5 ms), and a short-pulse design (500 kV, 265 A, 3 mus). These designs span the known requirements for future accelerator modulators. For the ILC design, the primary challenge is minimizing the overall size and cost of the storage capacitors in the modulator. For the short-pulse design, the primary challenge is high speed operation, to limit the energy lost in the pulse rise-time while providing a very tight (+/-3%) voltage flattop. Each design demands unique choices in components and controls, including the use of electrolytic capacitors in the ILC Marx design. This paper will review recent progress in the development and testing of both prototype Marx designs, built under two separate DOE phase II SBIR grants.