Plasma Erosion Opening Switch By Laser-produced Plasma

In order to produce a practical inductive energy storage pulsed power generator, an opening switch which can repeatedly conduct a large current and then rapidly switch this current to a load is needed. Though the plasma erosion opening switch (PEOS) can interrupt a large current, the number of times the switch can be operated is limited because the switch plasma is produced by a surface discharge which degrades the source each time it is used. In this paper, a PEOS using a laser-produced plasma, which can be operated repeatedly with almost no maintenance, is proposed, and experimental results for this PEOS are described. From the results it is clear that energy can be stored inductively and then switched to a load using this PEOS. Experimental results for the PEOS when a plasma gun is used are also described for comparison.