Ignition characteristics of a multi-stage Marx generator as a popular HV testing equipment was studied regarding the output voltage waveform distortion. The transient overvoltages across the ignition gaps and between stages were measured using a Pockels electric field sensing system.
These overvoltages showed internal high-frequency oscillations which varied with the gap distances. The detailed discussion on the characteristics of the superimposed oscillations revealed that the output waveform will vary in its very front part with different gap lengths and with different charging voltages. The change of the waveform would disappear in about three hundred nano-seconds.
As a result, the influence of the triggering behavior on a waveform parameter is small in general.