Development of a 10-kW solid state pulse power supply for copper vapor lasers

We have developed a magnetic-pulse-compression-type 10-kW-class solid state pulse power supply for copper vapor lasers. By triggering the gates of two gate turn-off thyristors (GTOs) connected in parallel, a 5-μs rise time primary pulse was generated. A three-stage magnetic pulse compression circuit compressed the primary pulse to 0.13 μs. The 13.7-kW GTO switching energy was achieved with a 4-kHz pulse repetition rate when a dummy load was connected instead of copper vapor laser (CVL). Total energy transfer efficiency of the power supply was 60%. This pulse power supply has been applied to a CVL with a plasma tube of 70-mm inner diameter and 1.5-m discharge length, and has operated successfully.