Proceedings of International Conference on Microwave - 08

D. Durga Praveen Kumar l , Vishnu Kumar Sharma, S. K. Singh, A. Roy, S. Mitra, K. Senthil, Rakhee Menon, Archana Sharma, K. V. Nagesh, D. P. Chakravarthy.
Accelerators and Pulsed Power Division (Appd), Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai - 400 085.
Abstract A pulse power system (IM~ SOkA, and lOOns) based on dual polarity charged Marx generator and Blumlein pulse forming line (PFL) was built to generate high power microwaves. This paper describes the inherent prepulse present with the Blumlein configuration and the mitigation strategies adopted. Further, a qualitative attempt to verify the generation of high power microwave output on the system is presented. Index Terms - Blumlein pulse forming line, High power microwave, Prepulse.

Generation of short duration High Power Microwave using KALI - 5000

charging resistors of 2.5 1d1 and 20 kQ mounted on a Perspex sheet.

I. INTRODUCTION
Pulse power systems have many applications including generation of Intense Relativistic Electron Beam (REB)!, Flash X-Raj, High power microwave 3 etc. All of these applications require a suitable pulse power system (PPS) configuration for getting high voltage and low current or relatively low voltage and high current at the output. Each configuration of the pulse power system essentially comprises of two sub systems. One is a high voltage generation and the other is a pulse shaping system. These two systems may be integrated into a single system like Pulse Forming Network (PFN) based Marx generator for building a compact PPS. Output of all these systems is connected to the load through a sparkgap in case of simple coaxial Pulse Forming Line (PFL) or directly in case of Blumlein PFL. A part of the voltage during the charging of the pulse shaping system is also applied to the load. This is called the prepulse voltage and its magnitude depends on the nature of coupling between the pulse 4 shaping system and the output load Presence of a prepulse ionizes the diode gap before the main pulse is applied and during the main pulse, diode gap completely bridges resulting in a short circuit at the output. Hence an effective reduction mechanism should be placed between pulse shaping system and output load for minimizing the prepulse voltage 5.6. The present pulse power system called Kilo Ampere Linear Injector (KALI) has four sub systems Marx generator, Blumlein PFL, SF 6 Sparkgap and Relativistic Electron Beam (REB) diode. A photograph of the system is shown in Fig.l. Marx generator has thirty capacitors with bipolar charging adopted. Each energy storage capacitor in the Marx generator is of 0.7 flF, and 50 kV. Modular assembly of the Marx generator has been incorporated with five modules. Each module consists of six capacitors, three nitrogen pressurized sparkgaps and 978-1-4244-2690-4444/08/$25.002008 IEEE

Fig. I.A photograph of the Marx Generator

Pulse shaping system is a three electrode coaxial cylindrical Blumlein PFL with castor oil dielectric. The electrical length of the Blumlein is 4 m with 0.8, 1, and 1.2 m as the diameter of innermost, intermediate and outer cylinders respectively. Innermost cylinder is connected to the ground through a Blumlein inductor of 8 flH. Output of the Marx generator is connected to the intermediate cylinder of the Blumlein. An SF 6 pressurized sparkgap is mounted between the innermost and intermediate cylinders of the Blumlein. This Sparkgap switches the energy stored in the Blumlein to the REB diode by over voltage breakdown. The REB diode comprises of a graphite or Stainless steel cathode with a copper mesh or Stainless Steel (SS) anode. Intense relativistic electron beam diode has been designed to generate HPM for both axial and coaxial configurations. II. SYSTEM OPERATION Marx generator is charged using a 50 kV regulated high voltage DC power supply with a series charging resistor of 500 kQ. After charging of the Marx generator, it is triggered to erect at a suitable charging voltage and Blumlein PFL is charged in a resonant charging mode 7 Erected Marx generator capacitance (23nF) is approximately double the capacitance of the Blumlein (10nF) and it gives a further voltage multiplication of 1.3. Equivalent circuit of the system during charging of the Blumlein is shown in Fig. 2. Cm is the total erected Marx generator capacitance. Lm and Rm are the stray inductance and resistance present with the interconnection of modules in the Marx generator. Capacitance Co and C 1 are capacitances of the Blumlein between intermediate and outer cylinders and

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Proceedings of International Conference on Microwave - 08

intermediate and inner cylinders respectively. Blumlein inductor is shown as Lp. Capacitance Cd is the diode capacitance and ~ is the voltage divider resistance connected across the load to measure the output voltage.

.... em

rn--+C' Co
Lp Rd

cylinder, Zo = characteristics impedance of each transmission line.

III.PREPULSE MINIMIZATION

Cd

Fig. 2. The equivalent circuit of the KALI-5000 When the MARX is erected, the erected MARX output charges the Blumlein. As the voltage across the SF6 spark gap increases to its peak value, it breaks down. During the charging of Blumlein, an unwanted voltage pulse called prepulse appears across the REB diode, which is nothing but the voltage across the Blumlein inductor. As the SF6 spark gap breaks down, the main pulse appears across the REB diode. The output voltage waveform is shown below in Fig 3. The main pulse and prepulse across output diode are of 350kVand 13kV in magnitude.

Analysis of the output waveform shows that the prepulse can be reduced by increasing the ratio of Lm/Lp. To increase this ratio, Lp can be reduced. But by reducing the value of Lp affects the droop in the main pulse. So the Lp has to be designed to keep the droop within specified limits. In order to increase this ratio, The Marx inductance Lm is increased by introducing an external inductor of 40mH, thereby the prepulse voltage has been reduced to less than 7% from 27%. The output waveform is shown in Fig 5.

Fig.S Diode voltage (1) and Marx generator's voltage (2) with extra inductor in Marx generator

IV. OUTPUT DIODE LOAD AND VIRCATOR Intense relativistic electron beam diode has been designed to generate HPM for both axial and coaxial configurations. For coaxial vircator the dominant mode is TE whereas for axial vircator the dominant mode is TM. Electron beam has been generated from graphite cathode by explosive emission mechanism. The generated electron beam is accelerated by the electric field and move towards the anode copper mesh. Due to high energy, the electrons do not stop and cross the anode mesh and form a virtual cathode at a distance approximately equal to the graphite cathode and anode gap. Thus the electrons oscillate between these two cathodes and thus the microwave is generated. Diode gap between the graphite cathode and copper mesh anode was varied to get the better microwave output. The variation of diode gap results in change of impedance of diode which in turn results in the change in microwave output. For axial diode configuration the diode impedance is given by the equation (1), using Child-Langmuir relation8
Z=-052

._. ~:~ 200 nsldlv, r~i~-12Q kV/dlV

Fig.3. Output voltage (1) and Marx generator output (2) The prepulse appears across the load because the charging time of the Blumlein capacitances Co and C1 are different such that the voltage across the SF6 spark gap does not reach peak at the same time, the Blumlein reaches its peak. When the SF6 spark gap breaks down, the Blumlein discharges to the load.. Due to pulse forming action of Blumlein, a FWHM high voltage pulse is applied to the REB diode . Due to the presence of micro projections at the cathode surface, electrons are emitted by explosive emission and thus the electron beam is generated. The equivalent circuit of discharging of the Blumlein is shown in Fig 4.

')7

136d 2 V'r

(1)

Fig. 4 Equivalent circuit of discharging of Blumlein Here VM = the Marx generator's output voltage, Lp inductor connected between outer and inner most

Presence of prepulse was shorting the diode at gaps ranging from 15 mm to 25 mm for a 350 kV operation2,3. After minimizing the prepulse with a gap of 14 mm HPM was generated. Vircator has been designed to generate HPM in the 3-5 GHz range. Reflex frequency for the vircator and

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Proceedings of International Conf.rence on Microwave - 08

Vircator oscillation frequency fve are given by equation (2) and (3) respectively.

V Fr = 4d (2)

Iv' =

rz lOfiiY

VI. CONCLUSION

(3)

Where v = electron velocity, d = diode and gap, J = current density in KA/cm2 Vircator emits the maximum microwave power when the reflex and virtual cathode oscillation frequency are same. V. QUALITATIVE TESTING OF RPM Normally in the presence of 270/0 prepulse we were not able to observe the RPM effects even at the distance of 50 ems because the prepulse was shorting the diode gap. After prepulse minimization illumination of neon bulbs was seen up to 150 ems distance. Power density required for RPM discharge is more than 1 kW/cm2, so from this qualitative testing it was established that at 150 em power density was more than 1 kW/cm2 Up to the same distance operational upset effect was observed on a microcontroller circuit AT89C4051. The AT89C4051 is a low-voltage, high-performance CMOS 8-bit microcomputer with 4K bytes of programmable and erasable read only memory. The circuit was programmed for a output sequence of 00 to FF on output port one (pin 12 to pin 19) in free running mode. Microcontroller based circuit was used because sometimes RPM also affects the program inside the microcontroller and this kind of damage occurs at lower powers in comparison to physical damage. This microcontroller based circuit when exposed to RPM all the LEDs stop blinking and they were glowing continuously, the circuit was hang. This effect can be classified as operational upset. This circuit was working properly again after resetting. Quantification of microwave power and frequency are being done with the help of diode detectors and band pass filters.

In blumlein based pulse power systems prepulse is a serious concern. In HPM systems with blumlein and vircator, prepulse causes shorting of diode gap which causes problem in HPM generation. Increasing the Marx inductance prepulse has been reduced to less than 7% from earlier level of 27%.This technique can be useful in practical systems to remove prepulse. This increased inductance will result in increased filed stress on blumlein so the system has to be operated at lower rating. Qualitative testing also shows that power density at 150 ems is more than 1 kW/cm2 The HPM power generated from the system is sufficient to cause operational upset at the same distance. REFERENCES
[1] 1. Mondal, D. D. P. Kumar, A. Roy, S. Mitra, A. Sharma, S. K. Singh, G. V. Rao, K. C. MinaI, K. V. Nagesh, and D. P. Chakravarthy, "Intense gigawatt relativistic electron beam generation in the presence of Prepulse", J. Appl. Phys.,101, 034905 (2007). [2] B. V. Weber, D. D. Hinshelwood, D. P. Murphy, S. 1. Stephanakis, and V. Harper-Slaboszewicz "Plasma-Filled Diode for High Dose-Rate Bremsstrahlung" IEEE Trans. Plasma Sci., 32, 1998 (2004). [3] S. H. Gold and G. S. Nusinovich. Rev. Sci. Instrom. 68. 3945(1997) [4] R. B. Miller, An Introduction to the Physics of Intense Charge Particle Beams, (Plenum. New York. 1982, ch. 2). [5] Amitava Roy et aI., "Intense relativistic electron beam generation and prepulse effect in high power cylindrical diode", J. Appl. Phys., vol. 103, pp. 014905,2008. [6] Clough S. G., Williamson M. C., Williams T. J., "PIM: Pre-Pulse Minimization and Considerations" Pulsed Power Symposium, 2006. The Institution of Engineering and Technology 11-12 Oct. 2006 Page(s):52 - 54. [7] D. Durga Praveen Kumar et aI., Rev. Sci. Instrum.78, 115107(2007). [8] Amitava Roy et aI., "Intense gigawatt relativistic electron beam generation in the presence of prepulse. Part II", J. Appl. Phys., vol. 102, pp. 064902, 2007.

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