LLNL has an extensive portfolio on photoconductive switches (PCSS), a device used for several high power applications where traditional electronic devices cannot meet the requirements for speed, power, or electromagnetic isolation. A type of PCSS called Bulk Optical Semiconductor Switch (BOSS) that can be controlled by laser pulses was developed using GaN doped with carbon, but it was limited by its slow performance. LLNL researchers have developed a method for GaN:C in BOSS mode to enable fast switching times.
This LLNL invention is a wide bandgap (WBG) or ultra-wide bandgap (UWBG) material comprising a PCSS that is modified, either chemically through alloying and/or mechanically through strain fields, in order to tune the energetic positions of the valence and/or conduction bands and the associated optical transition energies that create and quench the PCSS responsivity. The approach uses infrared (IR) light to partially quench the photoconductivity. By pulsing the IR light, it can fully quench the photoconductivity. Quenching the photoconductivity then enables the fast switching times needed for the application.
Current stage of technology development: TRL 3
LLNL has filed for patent protection on this invention.
- Value Proposition: Bulk optical semiconductor switch with fast switching times.
- Suitable for pulsed power, RF and power electronics applications
- Power Electronics
- Accelerators
- Pulsed Power applications
- Laser-triggered radiofrequency (RF) source
