A 30-kHz Monocycle Generator Using Linear Photoconductive Switches and a Microchip Laser

We have demonstrated that diode-pumped microchip laser technology can be well adapted for the generation of electrical kilovolt pulses. An ultra-compact system is presented. It delivers a smooth bipolar pulse of 2 ns, a peak-to-peak voltage of 1.3 kV, and a repetition rate of 30 kHz. The required optical energy to achieve a complete switching is as low as 10 muJ. Because of the linear switching regime, this generator still works after half a billion shots. No limitation in terms of life time is currently expected. Nevertheless, heating problems start to occur at a high repetition rate.