Abstract: A novel pulse compression diode material was designed and developed based on semi-insulated gallium arsenide (SI-GaAs). A test circuit for its compression performance and repeat trigger performance was built. The results of the experiment show that, the rise time and pulse width of the input pulse can be compressed by approximately 270 times and 14 times, respectively, by using this switch. Besides, electrical pulses were obtained on a 50 Ω resistive load with 1.3 kV magnitude, 1.6 ns rise time, and 40.59 ns width. It was realized to stably work under a repetitive frequency of 1 kHz and the time of operation was 47 minutes, i.e., for a total of approximately two million triggers. To study the operation of the pulse compression diode, its static volt-ampere characteristics were tested. The analysis suggests that the electric field-enhanced capture and dissociation mechanism within the SI-GaAs material results in an enhanced withstand voltage at the beginning of voltage application. Therefore, the diode delayed breakdown during the experiment. The reverse dipole domain effect generates a traction mechanism that triggers a rapidly rising displacement current, which leads to an avalanche breakdown of the reverse bias junction. The diode then exhibits a transient negative resistance characteristic and a high voltage nanosecond electrical pulse is output on the load. The novel pulse compression diode does not require an additional pre-stage device to trigger fast pulses and can maintain a strong avalanche breakdown state by itself for a certain period of time. In summary, it has the advantages of small size and low cost, and it is an ideal switch for developing all-solid-state high repetition frequency nanosecond pulse generator.