A high voltage pulsed power supply for capillary discharge waveguide applications

We present an all solid-state, high voltage pulsed power supply for inducing stable plasma formation (density ∼1018 cm−3) in gas-filled capillary discharge waveguides. The pulser (pulse duration of 1 μs) is based on transistor switching and wound transmission line transformer technology. For a capillary of length 40 mm and diameter 265 μm and gas backing pressure of 100 mbar, a fast voltage pulse risetime of 95 ns initiates breakdown at 13 kV along the capillary. A peak current of ∼280 A indicates near complete ionization, and the r.m.s. temporal jitter in the current pulse is only 4 ns. Temporally stable plasma formation is crucial for deploying capillary waveguides as plasma channels in laser-plasma interaction experiments, such as the laser wakefield accelerator.