Thyratrons versus thyristors for high power pulse laser excitation

From an extensive R & D program two switching configurations have emerged as economically and technically most suitable for driving excimer and CO₂ TEA lasers. In these lasers, input pulse energies of 20 J or more are required at repetition rates in excess of 2 kHz, with final pulse times below 150 ns. In the case of excimer and CO ₂ operation, respectively, average optical output powers of 500 W and 2.4 kW have been achieved in the laser systems developed. The first configuration uses a conventional 5 in ceramic thyratron with an LC-inversion voltage doubling circuit, assisted by two stages of magnetic pulse compression. The second, an all solid state pulser, uses four stages of magnetic compression only. Both compressors are of the Melville type and in both, primary pulse conversion is achieved by means of a resonant regulating pulse power supply unit which, by using active dequeueing, achieves pulse voltage regulation to better than 0.1%