Avalanche Photoconductive Switching

This paper describes work being done at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on the avalanche mode of operation of laser triggered photoconductive switches. We have been able to generate pulses with amplitudes of 2 kV - 35 kV and rise times of 300- 500 ps, and with a switching gain (energy of output electrical pulse vs energy of trigger optical pulse) of 1000 to over 100000. Switches with two very different physical configurations and with two different illumination wavelengths (1.06 micrometer, 890 nm) exhibit very similar behavior. The avalanche switching behavior, therefore, appears to be related to the material parameters rather than the optical wavelength or switch geometry. Considerable further work needs to be done to fully characterize and understand this mode of operation. See also ADM002371. Published in 2013 IEEE Pulsed Power Conference, Digest of Technical Papers 1976-2013, and Abstracts. Presented at the 2013 IEEE International Conference on Plasma Science Held in San Francisco, CA on 16-21 June 2013. U.S. Government or Federal Purpose Rights License.