单脉冲电光开关击穿时间延迟及抖动的减小方法

Method to reduce breakdown time delay and jitter of large aperture electro-optic switch by one-pulse process

减小单脉冲等离子体电极普克尔盒电光开关击穿时间延迟与抖动问题是提高大口径电光开关性能的关键。利用紫外线照射在阴极上的外光电效应,使阴极产生次级电子发射,形成稳定的初始电子流,在高压脉冲作用下普克尔盒内的初始电子产生快速繁流放电,使盒内氦气击穿。实验证明该方法可以减小开关的击穿时间延迟及抖动,使击穿时间延迟平均下降了36%,平均抖动时间下降88%。

The breakdown time delay and jitter are very important for the plasma-electrode Pockels celIs（PEPC） electro-optic switch driven by one-pulse process. Their reduction is the key to improve the performance large aperture electro-optic switches. A method is proposed in this paper： the cathode is illuminated by ultraviolet ray, so that the secondary electron can be excited and come into a steady initialized electron flow on the surface of the cathode. Under the high voltage pulse, the initial electron flow avalanches quickly in the cell, and the helium gas breaks down and discharge happened. Experimental results have demonstrated that the method did reduce the switching time and the time jitter. And the average time jitter and the average breakdown time delay were cut down by 88% and 36%, respectively.