Pulse sharpening effects in ferrites

Pulse sharpening effects were investigated both experimentally and theoretically in a coaxial transmission line filled with commercially available magnesium manganese ferrite. Measurements of rise-time reduction as a function of pulse voltage, magnetic field bias, and line length were obtained. Output rise times were reduced to values as low as 2.0 ns, with incident rise times as high as 30 ns, operating at a source voltage of 10 kV. The experimental results agree with a model in which the ferrite line is treated as an equivalent transmission line in which the series inductance and resistance depend on the magnetization reversal. A potential application for the ferrite pulse sharpener is the combination of this device with a commercially available slower switch, which will provide kilovolt pulses with nanosecond rise times, operating at high pulse repetition rates.