The plasma-heated thyratron
Abstract
An instant-starting hydrogen thyratron is described which incorporates a cathode requiring no warmup time, no standby power, and no separate heater power supply. Starting cold, time jitter is less than 1 ns; anode delay time is less than 200 ns; and the 0-30-s anode delay time drift is less than 100 ns. The cathode is a self-heating design made of impregnated tungsten. Even when cold, it provides sufficient emission capability to trigger readily and to prevent arcing. During operation, it attains full operating temperature via plasma-heating effects and its own resistive dissipation; after shutdown, it remains active, in readiness for the next cold start, a cycle which can be repeated as often as desired. Thyratrons made with the new cathode display operating behavior and life comparable to conventional hydrogen thyratrons of equivalent size.
- Publication:
-
IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices
- Pub Date:
- October 1979
- DOI:
- 10.1109/T-ED.1979.19628
- Bibcode:
- 1979ITED...26.1444F
- Keywords:
-
- Electric Power Supplies;
- Plasma Heating;
- Resistance Heating;
- Thyratrons;
- Time Lag;
- Display Devices;
- Energy Dissipation;
- Hydrogen;
- Impregnating;
- Operating Temperature;
- Time Dependence;
- Tungsten;
- Electronics and Electrical Engineering