Introduction to pulser technology |
High voltage pulse generators with fast risetimes have been of interest since the advent of electronics. They are currently used in a variety of fields ranging from laser systems, through radar applications to pulse simulation and system response testing equipment.
At the heart of any pulser is a fast high voltage switch of some kind. What is always needed is a device that is very non linear and able to change states very quickly. There are many devices that can achieve this, e.g. valves, transistors, spark gaps, krytrons, thyratrons, shock transmission lines, etc. In many applications it is necessary to synchronise the pulse with some external event and so the pulser "jitter" must be kept low. In other applications it may be necessary to use several devices either in series or parallel to achieve more power. In such cases the jitter must be significantly less than the pulse rise time otherwise the pulses will not add properly.
Pulsers built by Kentech are mainly based upon transistor technology although we make a variety of FET pulsers offering higher average pulse energy capability with slower risetimes. Avalanche pulsers are suitable for system peak powers of tens of megawatts with risetimes down to ~100ps whereas our FET pulsers can produce average power outputs up to several tens of kilowatts with a risetime of a few nanoseconds. There are many cases requiring a much more modest performance and we make many pulsers for such applications.
See our comparison of Avalanche and FET technologies
Kentech has been producing fast high voltage pulse generators since 1983. Over this period, as a result of continuous development, there have been significant improvements in terms of rise time, voltage, repetition rates and jitter.
Kentech specialises in the design and building of custom pulse generator systems offering a variety of features. In addition many pulse generators are built that are based upon standard units.
There are several technologies used in the range of products on offer. For the very fastest risetimes we use avalanche transistor pulsers. At somewhat slower risetime field effect transistors are used. In addition some pulsers may have active components to sharpen slower pulses.