Optical characteristics of gas switch and vacuum diode of high power pulse modulator

Gas switch and vacuum diode are important parts of high power pulse modulator; the measurements of their characteristic parameters are focused on voltage and current. In this paper, using the photodiode and optic fiber, the optical characteristic parameters of the gas discharge switch and vacuum diode are obtained. Factors that influence the measurement have been theoretically analyzed and simulatively studied. Experiments were done at the charging voltage of the pulse forming line of 1.7 MV, the vacuum diode voltage is 1.07 MV, and vacuum current is 18 kA. The relations between the breakdown voltage, current and the optical characteristics are obtained from experiments; the feasibility of using the optical method to measure the voltage and current of the high power pulse modulator are als