POWER SUPPLY FOR XENON FLASH-LAMP

Abstract

Xenon flash-lamp is a device that emit large amounts of spectral energy in short duration pulses. When an accumulated energy in a storage capacitor is released and dissipated, it forms highly excited xenon plasma within the flash-lamp. This article reports the development of a power supply of xenon flash-lamp which is used to pump optically a pulsed solid-state laser. The developed pulsed-power supply comprises the three parts to supply the flash-tube. The first one is the external trigger circuit which allows the initial ionization of the gas into the lamp by providing a high voltage pulse (around 20 kV). The second one is the simmer circuit which maintains a partial steady-state ionization of the gas by establishing and maintaining a low-current dc arc between the lamp electrodes. The third one is the main discharge circuit formed by the charging unit used to charge the storage capacitor. The capacitor charging process must be completed within the inter-pulse time of the laser. The principal capacitor discharge through the flash is ensured by an electronic switch (thyristor). The capacitor, the inductor and the flash-lamp resistor constitute the circuit that provides the desired shape pulse during the discharge. The power supply was tested at the repetition frequency of 1Hz.