Simple nanosecond capacitive voltage divider

C. S. Wong

Citation: Rev. Sci. Instrum. 56, 767 (1985); doi: 10.1063/1.1138170

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FIG. 3. Data from a 35 000 pulse run: (a) data from shot 1100; (b) data from
shot 17000. The upper trace is diode current (- 200 A max, and -40-ns
pulse width) and the lower trace is diode voltage (- 22 k V peak, and 4O-ns
pulse width).
shown in Fig. 3. A slight increase in current and decrease in
reproducibility is noted in the second trace, but, in general,
the performance of the cathode is about the same. Clearly
the cathode is emitting no less current after 18 000 shots
than after 1100 shots.
Measurements made by Lawrence Livermore National
Laboratory on a cathode made with material we supplied,
indicated an increase of at least a factor of 7 in beam bright-
ness with a cloth cathode when compared to a carbon tuft
cathode. 5 This results because of the improvements in uni-
formity which we observed.
We believe that the improved properties of cloth fiber
cathodes occur due to both the large number of field en-
hancement points on the fibers, and the nonconducting na-
ture of the material. Because the fibers are initially noncon-
ducting (they were also found to be nonconducting after
40 000 shots), surface flashover along the fibers must playa
role in cathode plasma production. Charge builds up on the
end of each fiber, and this gives rise to a breakdown process
which is ballasted because the individual fibers and fiber
tufts are separated.
Other effects may contribute to the slow gap closure
velocity. For extremely small gaps ( < 2 mm), the effective
emission surface appears, based on measured current and
voltage, to be below the top of the cloth fibers. Plasma pro-
duced by surface flashover below the surface of the material
win approach temperature equilibrium with the fibers, re-
sulting in temperatures much lower than the 1-2 eV typical
of cathode plasmas.
Use of this material was essential in achieving pulsed
microwave generation with our low-voltage accelerator, and
we suggest that it will find utility in a variety of electron
beam experiments.
The authors would like to thank G. Proulx, D. Prono, J.
Clark, D. Pershing, and R. Jackson for useful discussions,
and Robert Guarnieri, Thomas Montoya, and Michael Wil-
liams for their technical assistance. This work was supported
by the Air Force Office of Scientific Research under Con-
tract No. F49620-82-C-0014 and the Air Force Weapons
Laboratory under Contract No. F29601-84-C-0019.
Note added in proof We recently discovered that simi-
lar material was used for ion beam generation. b •7
JR. K. Parker, J. Appl. Phys. 45, 2463 (1974).
'J. A. Nation, Part. Aceel. 10, I (1979).
3E. A. Coutsias and D. J. Sullivan, Phys. Rev. A 27, 1535 (1983).
4J. G. Eden and D. Epp, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 51, 781 (1980).
'D. Prono, J. C. Clark, and G. A. Proulx (private communication).
·D. J. Johnson, A. V. Farnsworth, D. J. Fehl, R. J. Leeper, and G. W.
Kuswa, J. Appl. Phys. 50,4524 (1979).
'J. M. Neri, M. Greenspan, D. A. Hammer, and R. N. Sudan, Bull. Am.
Phys. Soc. 23, 902 (1978).

Simple nanosecond capacitive voltage divider

c. s. Wong
Plasma Research Laboratory, Physics Department, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur 22-11, Malaysia
(Received 2 January 1985; accepted for pubJication 17 January 1985)

The construction of a simple and inexpensive capacitive voltage probe by using coaxial cable is
described. The probe has been tested to a frequency response of better than 30 MHz for sinusoidal
voltage input and a rise time of < 20 ns for single-pulse input. The probe is ideal for applications in
small experiments involving low-energy and high-voltage capacitor discharge of nanosecond rise
time.

The capacitive voltage divider is now being widely used in
many laboratories to monitor the transient voltage pulses
encountered in various plasma and laser experiments. Sever-
a] successful designs of the capacitive voltage probe have
been reported. l -4 This note describes an extremely simple
version of the capacitive voltage divider which can be made
out of coaxial cable. Such a voltage probe can be incorporat-
ed into small plasma and laser devices or some fast pulsed
electronic circuits to provide an inexpensive method of mea-
suring nanosecond voltage pulses in these devices with suffi-
cient accuracy.
Ideally, a capacitive voltage divider consists of two ca-

767 Rev. Sci.lnstrum. 56 (5), May 1985 0034-6748/85/050767-03$01.30 @ 1985 American Institute of Physics 767

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pacitors connected in series as shown in Fig. 1 (a). In the
present design, these capacitors are made from a single coax-
ial cable as shown in Fig. 1 (b). The capacitor C) is formed by
embedding a short length (/d of the inner conductor of the
cable, together with the insulating polythene tube, into the
body of the high-voltage component of the discharge system;
while the rest of the length of the coaxial cable (/2) acts as the
capacitor Cz. The attenuation ratio (output:input).ofthis di-
vider is
/3 = C/(C) + C2 )·
In this case, C2 is connected directly across the input of the
oscilloscope which has a typical input resistance of 1 M11. If
required, the attenuation can be increased tenfold by con-
necting a 10 MJ1 resistor in series to the oscilloscope's input.
The response characteristics of the above capacitive
voltage divider is determined primarily by C2 • At the low-
frequency end, the response of the probe is limited by the
decay time constant of C2 , Rc C2 , where Rc is the input resis-
tance of the oscilloscope used; while the high-frequency end
is limited by the transit time for signal to travel along the
length of Cz. For a single-voltage pulse of rise time t" the
probe will be able to respond accurately if
t, >(/2/v),
where v is the velocity of propagation of electrical signal
FIG. 2. (a) The response of the capacitive voltage divider to a 2D-ns rise-time
along the coaxial cable, which is approximate! y 2 X 108 m/s. step voltage function. Upper trace is the output waveform Vo while the low-
The probe constructed for illustration here uses a RS er trace is the input waveform Vi' (Vertical scale: 0.2 V/crn for Vo; 20 V/cm
Uniradi043 coaxial cable. This cable is rated at 21 kV dc, 2.6 for Vi' Horizontal scale: 100 ns/cm, (b) the response of the capacitive vol-
kV peak rf\cw), and has a capacitance of 100 pF/m in its tage divider to a 3D-MHz sinusoidal waveform. Upper trace is the output
waveform while lower trace is the input waveform. (Vertical scale: 0.5 V/ crn
manufactured form. With 12 fixed at 1 m, Cz = 100 pF, and for Vo; 50 V/crn for Vi' Horizontal scale: 10 ns/cm.)
the ultimate limit of the probe's response time is
t, >5 ns.
known. In practice, this ratio is obtained by calibrating the
The attenuation ratio of the probe can be calculated if C) is
probe with a voltage of known amplitUde.
Figure 2 (a) shows the response of the present capacitive
voltage probe to a square pulse of 20-ns rise time. It can be
seen that the probe is able to respond accurately to the vol-
• tage pulse. The ringing at the plateau region of the voltage
pulse is probably due to the presence of a stray inductance
1M which is contributed by the cable itself. Similarly, Fig. 2 (b)
shows the accurate response of the probe to a 30-MHz sinu-
soidal waveform with peak-to-peak amplitude of 130 V. The
(8)
attenuation ratio of the probe calculated from these mea-
surements is 11110.
The pulse hold-off voltage of the probe is determined
mainly by the insulation of C)' In this design, the insulation
~
of C) is enhanced by adding a small Perspex cap to cover the
0
u part of the coaxial cable which is embedded in the high-
:> Pers,pex

"c: voltage conductor as shown in Fig. 1 (b). In this manner the

0 POlylhene outer
u
Insula110f'1 conductor
probe's hold-off voltage can be considerably higher than the
• rated values. However, since it is desirable to keep the length
!'"
~
or:.
~~~~---.~~rr1J1- ~~ope ofC 2 short in order to minimize the stray inductance as wen
as the signal transit time, the measuring oscilloscope must be
'"
X ,........- - -...v,--------' BNC stationed close to the high-voltage point of the device being
Inner free plug
Cl C2
conduclor studied. It is therefore recommended that the probe be used
(b)
for experiments involving low-energy capacitor discharge
(,20 k V). Despite this limitation, the probe can be consid-
FIG. 1. (a) The equivalent circuit of the capacitive voltage divider connected
directly to the oscilloscope, (b) schematics of the capacitive voltage divider ered a useful tool for a number of plasma and laser experi-
which is made from a single coaxial cable. ments as well. as some pulsed control electronic circuits

768 Rev. ScI. Instrum., Vol. 56, No.5, May 1985 Notes 768

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 where nanosecond voltage pulses of kilovolts amplitudes IG. E. Leavitt, J. D. Shipman, Jr., and I. M. Vitkovitsky, Rev. Sci. Instrum.
need to be measured. The simplicity of the probe's construc- 36, 1371/1965).
2N. W. Harris, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 45, 961 (1974).
tion ensures its quick implementation with minimum ex- 3c. A. Ekdahl, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 51,1645 (1980).
penses. 'w. A. Edson and G. N. Oetzel, Rev. Sci. Instrum. 52, 604 (1981).

Beam isolated Michelson interferometer for Fourier

transform infrared spectroscopy
C. K Man and D. C. Tardy
Department o/Chemistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242
(Received 12 November 1984; accepted for publication 5 February 1985)

An enhanced Michelson-type interferometer using two beam splitters and corner cubes has been
constructed from readily available components. The interferometer is controlled by a
microprocessor which also performs the Fourier transform. This instrument can be used in
continuous or stepwise scan modes with signal averaging and can be configured for single or
double beam (source) operation.

Fourier transform spectroscopy (FrS) provides enhanced S/ artifacts which may result from mirror tilt. 5 The movable
N through the Jacquinot and FeHgett advantages 1•2; addi- mirror (total optical path difference of 10 em is attached
tionally absolute wavelengths are obtained without the need directly to a motorized translation state without employing
for tedious calibrations. It has been noted that the primary air bearings. The translation stage is commercially available 6
disadvantage was the need of a computer to perform the and is easily interfaced to a computer for feedback and con-
Fourier transform (FT), however, with the proliferation of trol. Three parallel radiation sources (stacked on top of one
microcomputers being used for data acquisition and process-
ing this requirement is no longer a detriment. 8M
A) MI
The Michelson interferometer (MI) is the predominant-
ly used opticallayoue (Fig. 1). In FTS the optical path differ- CP
ence (d ) for the two arms is scanned producing the detector
response D (d), i.e., the interferogram; the spectral function + 1 (81,01) =::±:=1f=::z::~:!;
S (v) results from the Ff of D (d). The MI arrangement is a
a8
single beam configuration so that fluctuations in the source
intensity cannot be directly compensated. Additionally, the +2(82,02)
MI suffers from the drawback that radiation from the detec-
tor housing is fed back through the interferometer with the B) BIMI
source signal to the detector. 4 This normally is not a problem
when the detector and source are at substantially different
temperatures since with S I (v»S 2(v) the FT of D (d ) is just
S I(v) (see Table I).
Our objective was to build an infrared interferometer
which could be used for time-resolved emission/absorption
experiments in which source fluctuations could easily be cor-
rected. In this note we report the design of a beam isolated
Michelson interferometer (BIMI) which can be constructed +2(82.02)
from readily available components with minimal machining
FIG. I. (a) Michelson interferometer (MI) with beam splitter (BS), compen-
and electronic design requirements. sation plate (CP), and stationary and movable mirrors (SM and MM). (b)
Beam isolated Michelson interferometer (BIMI) with stationary and mova-
ble corner cubes (SCC and MCC). Radiation sources S and detectors Dean
I. BIM! OPTICS be placed at locations 1, 2, 3, and!or 4. The spectral distribution of source I
is S I(v) (v is the spectral wavelength in em-I) while S I is the total source
The optical layout is illustrated in Fig. 1; fiat mirrors of intensity sensed by the detector. A typical optical path is illustrated for each
the MI are replaced with corner cubes to eliminate spectral interferometer.

769 Rev. Scl.lnstrum. 56 (5), May 1985 0034-6748/85/050769-03$01.30 © 1985 American Institute of Physics 769

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