Ultra-wideband (UWB) microwave sources driven by specialised pulsed power generators have experienced a considerable development in the last decade due to their wide domain of new applications such as defence or counter-terrorism activity. The authors present the main findings of a research dedicated to the development of a pulsed power-driven electromagnetic field source for disabling improvised explosive devices (IED). The pulsed power generator driving the source is a 13-stage compact Marx producing voltage pulses reaching an amplitude of 0.5 MV, with a pulse repetition frequency (PRF) of up to 100 Hz. The generator is coupled to a bipolar pulse forming line, providing bipolar pulses with a dV/dt of around 1.6 MV/ns. This pulsed power system feeds an array composed of 16 Koshelev-type UWB antennas through an impedance matching transformer. The resulting electromagnetic source is capable to produce pulsed electric fields (PEFs) having a figure-of-merit (FOM) of 1 MV. First, practical experiments were carried out to study the effects of the PEFs on targets. The targets used in the present study are M2B type flashbulbs, known to have the same susceptibility as the US army M6 detonator. Different configurations of wires (shielded, twisted, etc) with different lengths were used in connecting items inside these targets. The tests were performed by placing the flashbulbs at different distances to determine the essential parameters (i.e., amplitude, duration, and frequency range) of the PEFs required to trigger them. An overview of the experimental campaign and the main findings are also presented followed by conclusions.

中文翻译：

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用于摧毁简易爆炸装置的高功率电磁源

由专用脉冲发电机驱动的超宽带 (UWB) 微波源由于其新应用领域广泛，例如国防或反恐活动，在过去十年中经历了相当大的发展。作者介绍了一项致力于开发脉冲功率驱动电磁场源以禁用简易爆炸装置 (IED) 的研究的主要结果。驱动源的脉冲发电机是 13 级紧凑型 Marx，产生幅度达到 0.5 MV 的电压脉冲，脉冲重复频率 (PRF) 高达 100 Hz。该发生器耦合到双极脉冲形成线，提供 dV/dt 约为 1.6 MV/ns 的双极脉冲。该脉冲电源系统通过阻抗匹配变压器向由 16 个 Koshelev 型 UWB 天线组成的阵列供电。由此产生的电磁源能够产生品质因数 (FOM) 为 1 MV 的脉冲电场 (PEF)。首先，进行了实际实验来研究PEF对目标的影响。本研究中使用的目标是 M2B 型闪光灯，已知其敏感性与美军 M6 雷管相同。不同长度的不同配置的电线（屏蔽线、双绞线等）用于连接这些目标内的物品。测试是通过将闪光灯放置在不同的距离来确定触发闪光灯所需的 PEF 的基本参数（即幅度、持续时间和频率范围）来进行的。还介绍了实验活动的概述和主要发现，然后得出结论。