Design and experiment of linear transformer driver stage

The principle and technical advantages of a linear transformer driver are introduced and the critical points in designing the fast LTD stage are presented. A fast LTD stage with current rising time less than 100 ns was designed and primary experiments were conducted on this stage. According to the experiment results, the stage can provide a current of 23.7 kA with a quarter period of 69.6 ns to a shorted load when charged to ±16 kV. When charged to ±50 kV, the stage can provide a current of 41.4 kA in 36.8 ns (10%~90% peak value of current) to a matched load of 0.85 Ω.