Pulsed Power Switch Development for the HJ1 Coaxial Plasma Accelerator for PJMIF*

HyperJet Fusion Corporation is developing spark gap and field distortion switches for their HJ1 plasma railgun accelerators for PJMIF. Each plasma gun acceleration bank is expected to contain about 7.5kJ of energy. Thus, to ease switch requirements, each acceleration bank has been segmented into 6 modules each requiring a switch. Since investigating PJMIF liner formation requires deploying significant arrays of plasma guns, which necessitates deploying even larger arrays of switches, emphasis has been placed on the reliability and repeatability of designs, as well as reducing jitter in switch closing times.  Experimental results will be discussed, along with future plans for switch development.