High-speed low-voltage ultraviolet light source

A novel quasi-spark gap has been designed and constructed with high-speed and low-spark voltage charac¬teristics. Ultraviolet light generating sparks can be operated at a rate of up to 25 kHz with pulses as low as 28 V. The photon pulse has a rise time of <10 nsec. Negligible breakdown delay and subnanosecond jitter have also been observed. It is an efficient UV point source capable of fast triggering and synchronization. A UV photon generation efficiency of 10-3 was estimated. The spectral properties of this gap were also ana¬lyzed. This gap has been incorporated into a picosecond C02 laser system to trigger a plasma shutter in the generation of picosecond laser pulses.