Circuit simulation of exponential transmission line for petawatt Z-pinch plasma drivers

It was demonstrated, based on the PSPICE circuit simulation, that the sectioning number for the circuit simulation of an exponential transmission line should be determined as twice the line’s one-way electromagnetic wave transport time (electric length) divided by the wave-front of input pulse, owing to elimination of the wave reflections caused by artificial impedance discontinuity in the line’s circuit simulation model, which employs a serial and sectional transmission line with impedances constant in each section but stair-step-varied between sections, and with total electric length the same as that of the exponential line under simulation. A pulse of 112.2 ns wave-front propagates through an exponential water transmission line of 1 234.2 ns one-way transport time will give the best s