Regulation and drive system for high rep-rate magnetic-pulse compressors

The essentially unlimited rep rate capability of nonlinear magnetic systems has imposed strict requirements on the drive system which initiates the pulse compression. An order of magnitude increase in the rep rates achieved by the advanced test accelerator gas blown system is not difficult to achieve in the magnetic compressor. The added requirement of having a high degree of regulation at the higher rep rates places strict requirements on the triggerable switch for charging and de-Queing. A feedback technique which applies the proper bias to a magnetic core by comparing a reference voltage to the charging voltage eases considerably the regulation required to achieve low jitter in magnetic compression. The performance of the high rep rate charging and regulation systems is described.