A thyristor will stay conducting until the current through the device is zero (“current zero”) or perhaps slightly negative. LLNL’s approach is to use the opticondistor (“OTV”) to force this current zero in order to force the device into an “off” state. By combining a light-activated thyristor with an OTV, a noise-immune, high efficiency, high-power switching device can be constructed. The…
Image
The approach is to leverage the fact that a momentary “load” equal to the power transmission line impedance, (Z0), during the transient can suppress its propagation. Z(0) is typically a fixed impedance of several hundred ohms based on the geometry of most single wire transmission lines.
So, an isolated self-powered opticondistor (OTV) system may provide an ultrafast method of…
Image
LLNL’s approach is to use their patented Photoconductive Charge Trapping Apparatus (U.S. Patent No. 11,366,401) as the active switch needed to discharge voltage across a vacuum gap in a particle accelerator, like the one described in their other patent (U.S. Patent No.