Development of a high repetition rate pulse power source and its applications to soft X-ray generation

Summary form only given. High-repetition-rate pulse power sources using disk-type ceramic capacitors mainly made of BaTiO₃ have been developed. The pulse power source consists of a 30-kV, 8.7-μF, 3.9-kJ capacitor bank with a 4000-piece small ceramic capacitor, a multitriggered gas gap, and a high-charged supply with constant-current charge control. This source produces a pulse current of 350 kA and a high repetition rate of 10 Hz. As load examples using this source, soft X-ray emissions from high-current vacuum spark and plasma focus were investigated. In the case of vacuum discharge using a copper electrode, relationships between X-ray emission time and X-ray intensity were examined. X-ray emissions resulted at 300 ns from discharge at 230 kA and the emission intensity increased as the pinch time from the discharge became longer, i.e. 900 ns. A plasma-focus X-ray source was examined using neon as a working gas. The pinch time dependence on the filling gas pressure was investigated. The model explained well the observed dependence in the case of a negative inner electrode