Pulse sharpening and RF generation using nonlinear transmission lines

A nonlinear lumped element transmission line (NLETL) with linear inductors and using capacitors as nonlinear elements was built to operate as a high voltage pulse sharpener. NLETLS are suitable for use in fast sampling pulse generation circuits and in the formation of high-voltage solitons, among other applications. In this paper, a NLETL built with 30 sections was tested up to 500 V providing a pulse rise reduction of 700 ns for an input rise time of about 2.5 μs on a 70 ohms resistive load when using a 1.2 kV IGBT solid state switch. Comparison of experimental results with Spice simulation from equivalent NLTL circuit modeling has shown good agreement.