Time-resolved voltage measurements in terawatt magnetically insulated transmission lines

Abstract

We have developed two voltage diagnostics that circumvent many of the difficulties of measuring voltage in magnetically insulated transmission lines driven by terawatt (megavolt and megampere) electrical pulsers. Two versions of simple vacuum capacitive probes use strong magnetic fields to deflect electrons from the anode-mounted displacement current collector. We then introduce the electron launching voltage monitor as a novel way to measure voltage. This device uses a relationship between anode electric field and electron current launched from a cathode-mounted perturbation. The electron launching voltage monitor has a large number of advantages over methods commonly used to measure voltage, including large signal level, tolerance to poor vacuum, and nanosecond temporal response. This article shows designs for all these monitors, and presents data from experiments done on the SuperMite pulser at Sandia National Laboratories.