Inductive Adder Prototype for FCC-hh Injection Kicker System

The future circular collider (FCC) requires a highly reliable injection kicker system. Present day kicker systems often rely on thyratron-based pulse generators and a pulse forming network or line: the thyratron is susceptible to self-triggering. Hence, an alternative pulse generator topology, based on fast semiconductor switches, is considered for the FCC. One possibility is an inductive adder (IA). A prototype IA has been designed and built: the main challenges are the fast rise time, high output current, low system impedance and a 2.3 us pulse duration combined with low droop. This paper presents the results of measurements on the prototype IA where the rated output current and output voltage were achieved separately. Suggested improvements to the IA hardware are identified and proposals are presented that could help improve the kicker system performance.