Application of a ferroelectric plasma cathode as a high-current switch

In this paper the parameters of two types of high-current switches based on ferroelectric BaTiO₃ ignition are presented. Both types of switches showed a reliable and controllable operation with a repetition rate of several Hz. The first type is a vacuum two-electrode switch ignited by the plasma which is generated by a BaTiO₃ cathode. This type of switch was tested in the voltage range of 3-25 kV and switched current amplitude of 2-15 kA with either negative or positive polarity of the high-voltage electrode. The second type is a BaTiO₃ surface flashover strip-like switch ignited by a driving pulse which has an amplitude of several kV. It was shown that the application of the driving pulse (>10 kV) leads to the appearance of many non-complete surface discharges which transform further to a multi-channel discharge. This type of switch was tested in the voltage range of 1-25 kV and current amplitude of 0.5-15 kA. The design of the switches, their lifetime, the time jitter and the parameters of the switched current for different discharge conditions are presented. Received 5 November 2001