Pankaj Deb

Note: Compact helical pulse forming line for the generation of longer duration rectangular pulse

The helical pulsed forming line (PFL) can generate longer duration rectangular pulse in a smaller length. A compact PFL using helical water line is designed and experimentally investigated. The impedance of the helical PFL is 22 [ohm sign]. The compactness is achieved in terms of reduction in length of the PFL by a factor of 5.5 using helical water PFL as compared to coaxial water PFL of same length. The helical PFL was pulsed charged to 200 kV using a high voltage pulse transformer in 4.5 μs and discharged into the matched 22 Ω resistive load through a self-breakdown pressurized spark gap switch. The rectangular voltage pulse of 100 kV, 260 ns (FWHM) is measured across the load. The effect of reduction in water temperature on the pulse width is also studied experimentally. The increase in pulse width up to 7% more is observed by reducing the temperature of the deionized water to 5 °C. It will further reduce the length of the PFL and make the system small for compact pulsed power drivers.

Compact pulse forming line using barium titanate ceramic material

Ceramic material has very high relative permittivity, so compact pulse forming line can be made using these materials. Barium titanate (BaTiO(3)) has a relative permittivity of 1200 so it is used for making compact pulse forming line (PFL). Barium titanate also has piezoelectric effects so it cracks during high voltages discharges due to stresses developed in it. Barium titanate is mixed with rubber which absorbs the piezoelectric stresses when the PFL is charged and regain its original shape after the discharge. A composite mixture of barium titanate with the neoprene rubber is prepared. The relative permittivity of the composite mixture is measured to be 85. A coaxial pulse forming line of inner diameter 120 mm, outer diameter 240 mm, and length 350 mm is made and the composite mixture of barium titanate and neoprene rubber is filled between the inner and outer cylinders. The PFL is charged up to 120 kV and discharged into 5 Ω load. The voltage pulse of 70 kV, 21 ns is measured across the load. The conventional PFL is made up of oil or plastics dielectrics with the relative permittivity of 2-10 [D. R. Linde, CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 90th ed. (CRC, 2009); Xia et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 79, 086113 (2008); Yang et al., Rev. Sci. Instrum. 81, 43303 (2010)], which increases the length of PFL. We have reported the compactness in length achieved due to increase in relative permittivity of composite mixture by adding barium titanate in neoprene rubber.

Low voltage operation of plasma focus

Plasma foci of compact sizes and operating with low energies (from tens of joules to few hundred joules) have found application in recent years and have attracted plasma-physics scientists and engineers for research in this direction. We are presenting a low energy and miniature plasma focus which operates from a capacitor bank of 8.4 muF capacity, charged at 4.2-4.3 kV and delivering approximately 52 kA peak current at approximately 60 nH calculated circuit inductance. The total circuit inductance includes the plasma focus inductance. The reported plasma focus operates at the lowest voltage among all reported plasma foci so far. Moreover the cost of capacitor bank used for plasma focus is nearly 20 U.S. dollars making it very cheap. At low voltage operation of plasma focus, the initial breakdown mechanism becomes important for operation of plasma focus. The quartz glass tube is used as insulator and breakdown initiation is done on its surface. The total energy of the plasma focus is approximately 75 J. The plasma focus system is made compact and the switching of capacitor bank energy is done by manual operating switch. The focus is operated with hydrogen and deuterium filled at 1-2 mbar.

Compact Pulsed-Power Driver for Double Pulse Effect Studies in Nanosecond Laser Ablation

High-voltage double pulse of nanosecond duration (~ hundreds of nanoseconds) with extremely short interval (~ tens of nanoseconds) between the pulses can be used to study the double pulse effect in nanosecond laser ablation for laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy. A 0.5-GW compact pulsed-power driver is designed using the transmission line characteristics of the pulse forming line to generate two pulses with extremely short repetition interval. The impedance of the pulsed-power driver is 22 Ω, and it generates two flat top high-voltage pulses of 100 kV, 100 ns duration with a interpulse repetition interval of 30 ns across the matched load.

Characterization of High Power Microwave Radiation by an Axially Extracted Vircator

Characterization results of high-power microwave radiation, from an axial vircator driven by pulsed electron beam accelerator AMBICA-600 are reported in this paper. We present a study on variation in pulsed microwave power output and dominant frequency by discretely varying anode-cathode (A-C) gap. While keeping the cathode diameter fixed at 40 mm, for the A-C gap distance in the range 5-9 mm, dominant frequencies have been measured to be lying in the range 4.7-9.8 GHz. The trend of a subsequent increase in the dominant frequency at lower A-C gap distances (and vice versa) revealed that center frequency is mainly governed by the longitudinal size of the potential well. The highest microwave power of ~ 14 MW for ~ 75-ns pulse duration was obtained at A-C gap of 7 mm having the dominant frequency in C-band at ~ 6.9 GHz. The beam-to-microwave power conversion efficiency of ~ 1.2% has been demonstrated in our experiments. On the basis of power distribution pattern obtained by the gas breakdown technique, the dominant mode of emission is believed to be transverse magnetic mode. Relative analysis of frequency spectrums obtained for various A-C gap distances evidenced experimental recognition of optimum A-C spacing as a generation of narrowband distinct frequency peak of large magnitude with minimal mode hopping.

Experimental study of exploding wire method for production of metal nanoparticles

In an effort to characterize the exploding wire method for efficient production of nanoparticles, we are involved for studying this method in our laboratory. The copper wire of 0.26 mm diameter was exploded inside an enclosure made off stainless steel. The explosion was done by passing electric current through the wire by discharging the capacitor. In this paper we discuss the behavior of the electrical circuit in explosion process and the production of the nanoparticles after explosion.

Note: fast double pulse system using transmission line characteristic of the pulse forming line.

A fast double pulse system is designed and developed using the transmission line characteristic of the pulse forming line to generate two flat top rectangular pulses with extremely short interpulse repetition interval. The helical pulse forming line (HPFL) is used to generate longer duration rectangular pulses in smaller length. The HPFL inner conductor is made up of 13 turns of SS-304 strip, 39.5 mm wide and 0.5 mm thick wounded on the 168 mm delrin cylinder. The impedance of the HPFL is 22 Ω. The 2 turns at the input side of the HPFL are wounded with ethylene propylene rubber tape on the strip. The HPFL is charged to 180 kV in 4 μs and discharges into a matched load through a spark switch. It generates two flat top rectangular pulses of 90 kV, 100 ns duration with the 30 ns interval between the pulses. The system can be used as fast double pulse source for repetitive pulsed power loads.

Generation of EM radiations using intense electron beam produced in vacuum

The results of a pulse power generator driving an axial virtual cathode oscillator are being presented in this paper as a source of high power microwave (HPM) radiations. The electron beam generator is also modified to attain the intense X-ray burst. The pulse power generator used for these applications is common and is having 10 ohms as its characteristic impedance with 50nS of pulse width. The peak charging voltage of the pulse forming line is 450kV and hence 225kV and 22.5kA is peak voltage and peak current delivery capabilities respectively for the pulse power generator. The peak electrical power of the generator is 5GW for a matched load. The charging power supply for the pulse forming line consists of a high voltage generator made by pulse transformer and charging the pulse forming line in the first cycle of the charging pulse. To utilize the energy of the primary capacitive storage efficiently the pulse transformer is having 0.8 coupling coefficient between its primary and the secondary. The axial vircator chamber is evacuated to attain the vacuum of 2×10-4 torr for the HPM application. In the case of modified electron beam chamber for the generation of X-rays the vacuum of same order is used. The pulse forming line is made using equal lengths of high voltage transmission lines, each having a length of 10 meters, connected in the parallel to give a net source impedance of 10 ohm. The pulse power generator can operate in repetitive mode and hence the HPM as well as X-rays may be generated in the repetitive burst.

Design and development of compact pulsed power driver for electron beam experiments

Pulsed electron beam generation requires high power pulses of fast rise, short duration pulse with flat top. With this objective we have designed a low cost compact pulsed power driver based on water dielectric transmission line. The paper describes the design aspects and construction of the pulse power driver and its experimental results. The pulsed power driver consist of a capacitor bank and its charging power supply, high voltage generator, high voltage switch and pulse compression system.

Pulsed electron beam generation with fast repetitive double pulse system

Longer duration high voltage pulse (~ 100 k V, 260 ns) is generated and reported using helical pulse forming line in compact geometry [1]. The transmission line characteristics of the helical pulse forming line are also used to develop fast repetition double pulse system with very short inter pulse interval [2]. It overcomes the limitations caused due to circuit parameters, power supplies and load characteristics for fast repetitive high voltage pulse generation [3]. The high voltage double pulse of 100 kV, 100 ns with an inter pulse repetition interval of 30 ns is applied across the vacuum field emission diode for pulsed electron beam generation. The electron beam is generated from cathode material by application of negative high voltage (> 100 kV) across the diode by explosive electron emission process. The vacuum field emission diode is made of 40 mm diameter graphite cathode and SS mesh anode. The anode cathode gap was 6 mm and the drift tube diameter was 10 cm. The initial experimental results of pulsed electron beam generation with fast repetitive double pulse system are reported and discussed.