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Experiments with Supersonic Beams as a Source of Cold Atoms

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258V<br />

1MΩ<br />

5V<br />

1mF<br />

DC/DC Converter<br />

TTL<br />

TTL 5V<br />

50Ω<br />

feedback<br />

controller<br />

2Ω<br />

N Channels<br />

Figure 4.11: A schematic <strong>of</strong> the coil driver circuit used to drive the 18 stage coilgun<br />

coils. The coils are switched by two solid state switches, a thyristor and an IGBT.<br />

The elements inside the d<strong>as</strong>hed box are unique to each coil, while those outside the<br />

box are shared by multiple coil channels.<br />

among multiple channels. There are 8 total IGBTs, so each IGBT is responsible for<br />

switching 2-3 coils. Each coil h<strong>as</strong> a 1 mF capacitor, charged to 258 V by a set <strong>of</strong> five<br />

50 V switching power supplies connected in series, which is capable <strong>of</strong> 2.1 A steady<br />

state. A 1 MΩ resistor is placed across the capacitor to allow it to discharge even if<br />

power is disconnected. This allows the circuits to be safely examined after some time,<br />

even if there is a fault that does not allow the capacitors to be discharged across the<br />

coils.<br />

The thyristor is controlled by the current flowing from the gate to the cathode,<br />

and requires 20 mA to close. Producing this current requires a positive voltage <strong>with</strong><br />

respect to the cathode, and a DC/DC converter is used to create a 5 V bi<strong>as</strong> between<br />

the gate and cathode. The bi<strong>as</strong> is switched by an opto-coupler that protects the<br />

digital side <strong>of</strong> the circuit by physically disconnecting it from the high voltage side<br />

<strong>of</strong> the circuit. The thyristor requires ≈ 40 μs to effectively close after the current<br />

80<br />

.25Ω<br />

2μF

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