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Developing a long lifetime three-electrode spark-gap switch for high power, repetitive, narrow pulse width
Kuo Zhang1, Fei Chen1, Shiming Li1
1State Key Laboratory of Laser Interaction with Matter, Changchun Institute of Optic, Fine Mechanic and Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Changchun 130033, China.
Abstract:
A three-electrode spark-gap switch is developed to improve the stability of breakdown discharge in a high power repetitive transversely excited atmospheric CO2 laser. The discharge gap is specially designed to achieve a high speed gas flow in the discharge zone. A gas circulation is applied in the switch to make the ionization gas recover quickly. The influence of gas pressure and gap spacing is numerically analyzed. During a test of 10 min (at 500 Hz, 25 J/pulse), the feasibility of the switch was proved. The electrode lifetime in this spark-gap switch is extended to more than 107 shots for high power repetitive laser output.
