Nanosecond rise time minipulser for cell electroperturbation

The design of a compact pulse generator with sub-ns rise time for the study of short pulse cell electroperturbation is presented. The generator is based on a small, water dielectric Blumlein PFN (pulse forming network) switched with an overvoltage air spark gap. This arrangement delivers 3/spl sim/5-nanosecond long pulses with sub-nanosecond rise time to the cuvette load. In order to minimize the spark gap distance, and thus the rise time, the Blumlein PFN is charged within 500 ns by a MOSFET-based high-voltage resonant charger.