Sub-nanosecond jitter high voltage spark-gap triggered by femtosecond laser pulses

Summary form only given. Several applications in laser technology and other fields require either very good time control of high voltage spark-gaps capable of switching large currents, or very good synchronization between laser pulses and events controlled by these high voltage switches. This has motivated significant amount of research in laser triggered spark-gaps utilizing laser pulses of ns duration. We report sub-nanosecond jitter operation of a pressurized high voltage spark-gap triggered by femtosecond pulses from a Ti:sapphire laser. Time delay between the trigger pulses and discharge with statistical fluctuations as low as /spl sigma/ (standard deviation) = 0.07 ns were obtained.