Section 3e

LASER TRIGGERING OF GAS FIU.ED SPARK GAPS

P.F. Williams

Department of Electrical Engineering

University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Lincoln, NE 68588

and

A.H. Guenther

Defense Research and Applications

Los Alamos National Laboratory
Los Alamos, NM 87545

INTRODUCTION

The laser-triggered spark gap was first studied by Pendleton

and Guenther (1965). Since that time gas dielectric, laser
triggered switching (LTS) has been employed in a wide range of
applications primarily requiring precise synchronization, and there
has been an avalanche of publications describing the construction
and performance limits of these devices. Additionally, several new
types of optically-controlled switches, such as vacuum gaps, liquid
and solid dielectric gaps, photoconductive semiconductor switches,
and optically-controlled diffuse discharge switches, have also ap-
peared. Although many of these new switches are interesting and,
for certain applications, promise significant improvements over
conventional switching technology, we limit our discussion here to
gas-filled, laser triggered spark gaps only.

Laser triggering of spark gaps offers a number of significant

advantages over other triggering methods:

• Fast, low jitter triggering. High power (megavolt, mega-amp)

gaps can be triggered with closure delays of a few ns, and
with rms jitter less than 100 ps. Small, low power (1-10 kV,

145
G. Schaefer et al. (eds.), Gas Discharge Closing Switches
© Springer Science+Business Media New York 1990
146 P. F. WILLIAMS AND A. H. GUENTHER

1-100 A) gaps can achieve de1ays approaching 100 ps, with 1ess
than 10 ps jitter. Thus, laser triggered gaps are exce11ent
candidates for app1ications requiring precision timing of one
or more of switches.

• Near1y constant de1ay. Under proper operating conditions the

delay to c10sure is a weak function of the ratio of charging
vo1tage to self-breakdown voltage. This feature is important
for the parallel operation of severa1 gaps because small
changes in self-breakdown vo1tage due to erosion of the e1ec-
trodes or other causes will have 1ittle effect on the de1ay,
and hence, on the simultaneity of c10sure of the gaps.

• Electrical isolation of trigger. Laser triggering provides

essentially perfect e1ectrica1 isolation of the trigger cir-
cuit from the switched high vo1tage circuit. This feature
simp1ifies trigger circuit design, enhances operational safety
in high power app1ications, and allows for better electrical
shielding for noise reduction.

• High reliability. Exce11ent switching performance can be

attained with significant1y under-vo1ted gaps, so that the
prefire probability of a proper1y designed, laser triggered
switching system is essentia11y zero. Further , in such a
system, the probability of firing on cornrnand, within the de-
sign time window, is near1y unity.

• Wide range of applicability. Laser triggering has been used

for app1ications requiring the switching of vo1tages ranging
from less than 1 kV to greater than 1 MV, with load currents
ranging from amps to several mega-amps and is especially
suited to mu1ti-channe1 or mu1ti-switch operation from single
shot to high repetition rate service.

Factors which may limit the applicability of the technique,

and which should be considered in the design of an LTS system are
the following.

• Laser requirement. A pulsed laser is needed. Al though the

power requirements are modest, and lasers currently available
are quite re1iable, the cost of the laser may limit app1ica-
tion of the method to re1atively "large" switching applica-
tions. Recent advances in solid state lasers may alleviate
this limitation.

• Optical access requirement. Optica1 access, often along the

gap axis, for the triggering laser beam is usua1ly required.
Providing this access may dictate the e1ectrica1 and mechani-
cal design of the spark gap, although the design is often sim-
pler than with an electrically triggered gap. The use of