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Laser Triggering of Gas Filled Spark Gaps

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Gas Discharge Closing Switches

Part of the book series: Advances in Pulsed Power Technology ((APUT,volume 2))

Abstract

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 appeared. 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.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE, 68588, USA

    P. F. Williams

  2. Defense Research and Applications, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM, 87545, USA

    A. H. Guenther

Authors
  1. P. F. Williams
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  2. A. H. Guenther
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Late of Polytechnic University, Farmingdale, New York, USA

    Gerhard Schaefer

  2. Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, USA

    M. Kristiansen

  3. Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, New Mexico, USA

    A. Guenther

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© 1990 Springer Science+Business Media New York

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Williams, P.F., Guenther, A.H. (1990). Laser Triggering of Gas Filled Spark Gaps. In: Schaefer, G., Kristiansen, M., Guenther, A. (eds) Gas Discharge Closing Switches. Advances in Pulsed Power Technology, vol 2. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2130-7_7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4899-2130-7_7

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4899-2132-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4899-2130-7

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