A Highly Stable Source of Current Pulses with an Adjustable Amplitude of up to 350 A for a Nonlinear Complex Load

Abstract

The application of high-power semiconductor lasers for creating a population inversion in active gaseous media is an integral part of studies that are aimed at the achievement of a sufficient level of laser-radiation energy to initiate a thermonuclear reaction. The stability of the laser radiation and, thus, the repeatability of experimental results, depend on the stability of the parameters of current pulses for pumping laser-diode arrays with a pulse amplitude of up to several hundred amperes. The flow of current pulses with such an amplitude through a cable that connects the load to the output of the current-pulse source must not lead to the formation of voltage pulses of opposite polarity across the load, which can damage it. This can be prevented by correcting the current pulse edges. It is proposed to develop a source of current pulses with a high amplitude on the basis of several modules of fast linear current amplifiers with individual control loops, whose outputs are connected in parallel. It is established that a compensation-type current sensor on the basis of the Hall effect is operable at high frequencies and can be used in these modules, but it has pronounced resonance properties, which must be canceled. It is shown that analog driving pulses of each module can be formed using aperiodic chains with parameters that eliminate oscillatory processes in the load circuit. A dynamic model of a module of the linear current amplifier and the calculation relationships for the parameters of its components, which follow from this model, are presented. The experimental results that confirm stability of the parameters of the formed current pulses are presented.