High Current Operation of a Semi-insulating Gallium Arsenide Photoconductive Semiconductor Switch Triggering a Spark Gap

A transient peak current as high as 5.6 kA is obtained by a GaAs photoconductive semiconductor switch (PCSS) in series with a spark gap. Based on the characteristics of the GaAs PCSS, mechanisms of discharge between the PCSS and the spark gap are discussed. It is implied that a hybrid operation mode of photo-activated charge domain occurs due to the superposition of the bias voltage and the instantaneous radio frequency voltage.