PLASMA-OPENING-SWITCH-BASED REPETITIVE GENERATOR

Operation peculiarities of the RS-20 generator based on the plasma ope ning switch (POS) including its repetitive operation capabilities are reviewed. They are: limited current value, gas emission, pulsed heat l oads, etc. The feasibility of a POS with maximum impedance and relativ ely low (100 kA and lower) drive current is being investigated. The ev olution of the POS design used in the repetitive X-ray generator RS-20 is presented in various schemes; The ''reflecting'' scheme has a vari able anode transparency in the direction of the load and another schem e uses an external pulsed magnetic held. The paper describes a combine d X-ray converter having a multilayer structure: a thin layer of fine- grained tungsten is placed between two layers of carbon film. The prog ress achieved in improvement of the RS-20 main units (Marx Generator, Plasma Opening Switch, X-ray Converter) made it possible to increase t heir lifetime to more than 10(7) pulses without replacement.