HADES: a High Amperage Driver for Extreme States

Linear transformer drivers (LTD) allow to greatly reduce the size of pulsed-power drivers while increasing their efficiency and repetition rate. However, limitations on the capacitors voltage and current exist, mostly driven by technological imperatives. As a result, LTD required to be connected in series and in parallel to form a practical pulsed-power generator. The High Amperage Driver for Extreme States (HADES) proposed here can generate 250 GW of power, i.e. a 1 MA on current with a rise time of 150 ns into a 20nH load. The key feature of the driver is its size. The machine footprint is less than 5m2 and its height is less than 1.6m. This reduction in footprint, compared to other 1 MA LTD based-systems, comes from a compact transmission line geometry which allow to connect LTDs is series and in parallel efficiently. This paper summarizes this design and describes HADES operation and maintenance.