High voltage pre-pulsing

1. A pre-pulse switching calibration method comprising:

providing a pre-pulse with a pulse width T pp to a load by closing a pre-pulse switch and opening the pre-pulse switch;

providing a main pulse to the load after a delay T delay by closing a main switch and opening the main switch, the main pulse has an output voltage V out ;

adjusting the pulse width of the pre-pulse T pp ; and

adjusting the delay T delay until the pre-pulse and the main pulse merge into a single pulse at the load.

2. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the pulse width T pp is less than 1,000 ns.

3. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the delay T delay is less than 1,000 ns.

4. The method according to claim 1 , wherein adjusting the delay T delay until the pre-pulse and the main pulse merge into a single pulse at the load further comprising incrementing the delay T delay by a factor of less than T delay /10.

5. The method according to claim 1 , wherein adjusting the pulse width of the pre-pulse T pp , further comprises:

determining that the voltage at the load from the pre-pulse is less than the output voltage; and

increasing the pulse width of the pre-pulse T pp .

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein adjusting the pulse width of the pre-pulse T pp , further comprises:

determining that the voltage at the load has a dip due to T delay being too long; and

decreasing the width of T delay .

7. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the delay T delay is less than the pulse width of T pp .

8. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the output voltage V out is greater than 100 V.

9. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the pre-pulse has a rise time less than about 500 ns.

10. A pre-pulse switching system comprising:

a power source configured to provide a voltage greater than 100 V;

a pre-pulse switch coupled with the power source and configured to provide a pre-pulse having a pulse width of T pp ; and

a main switch coupled with the power source and configured to provide a main pulse;

wherein the pre-pulse is provided to a load by closing the pre-pulse switch while the main switch is open;

wherein the main pulse is provided to the load by closing the main switch after a delay T delay after the pre-pulse switch has been opened;

wherein the delay T delay is adjusted such that at the load the pre-pulse and the main pulse combine to a form a single pulse with negligible ringing.

11. The pre-pulse switching system according to claim 10 , wherein the pre-pulse has a rise time less than 500 ns.

12. The pre-pulse switching system according to claim 10 , further comprising a rectified output.

13. The pre-pulse switching system according to claim 10 , further comprising an H-bridge switching topology.

14. The pre-pulse switching system according to claim 10 , wherein the stray inductance of the pre-pulse switching system is less than about 1000 nH.

15. The pre-pulse switching system according to claim 10 , wherein the stray capacitance of the pre-pulse switching system is less than about 1000 nF.

16. The pre-pulse switching system according to claim 10 , wherein either or both the main switch and the pre-pulse switch comprise a solid-state switch.

17. A switching system comprising:

a high voltage power supply;

an output;

a plurality of pre-pulse switches coupled with the high voltage power supply, each of the plurality of pre-pulses are configured to provide a pre-pulse to the output; and

a plurality of main switches coupled with the power supply, each of the plurality of main switches are configured to provide a main pulse to the output with a voltage greater than 100 V, wherein there is a delay T delay between each end of a respective pre-pulse and each start of a respective main pulse, wherein the delay T delay is adjusted to produce an output pulse that comprises a single output pulse from the combination of the pre-pulse and the main pulse switches with a pulse length greater than 10 ns.

18. The switching system according to claim 17 , wherein the output pulse has negligible ringing.

19. The switching system according to claim 17 , wherein each of the main pulses are provided after a delay from the plurality of pre-pulse switches providing the plurality of pre-pulses.

20. The switching system according to claim 17 , wherein the plurality of pre-pulse switches and the plurality of main switches are arranged in an H-bridge topology.

21. The switching system according to claim 17 , wherein the pre-pulse has a rise time less than 500 ns.

22. The switching system according to claim 17 , further comprising a transformer coupled output.