Daniel L Birx

6541786, Apr 1, 2003

Jun 2, 1999

09/324526

William N. Partlo - Poway CA
Igor V. Fomenkov - San Diego CA
Daniel L. Birx - Oakley CA

Cymer, Inc. - San Diego CA

G21G 400

250504R, 2504931, 378119, 378143

A high energy photon source. A pair of plasma pinch electrodes are located in a vacuum chamber. A working gas which includes a noble buffer gas and an active gas chosen to provide a desired spectral line. A pulse power source provides electrical pulses at voltages high enough to create electrical discharge between the electrodes to produce very high temperature, high density plasma pinch in the working gas providing radiation at the spectral line of the active gas. An external reflection radiation collector-director collects radiation produced in the plasma pinches and directs the radiation in a desired direction. In a preferred embodiment the active gas is lithium and the buffer gas is helium and the radiation collector-director is coated with the material used for the electrodes. A good choice for the material is tungsten. In a second preferred embodiment the buffer gas is argon and lithium gas is produced by vaporization of solid or liquid lithium located in a hole along the axis of the central electrode of a coaxial electrode configuration.

6586757, Jul 1, 2003

Jun 6, 2001

09/875719

Stephan T. Melnychuk - Carlsbad CA
William N. Partlo - Poway CA
Igor V. Fomenkov - San Diego CA
Richard M. Ness - San Diego CA
Daniel L. Birx late of - Potomac MD
Richard L. Sandstrom - Encinitas CA
John E. Rauch - Poway CA

Cymer, Inc. - San Diego CA

H01J 3520

250504R, 2504931, 378119

A high energy photon source. A pair of plasma pinch electrodes are located in a vacuum chamber. The chamber contains a working gas which includes a noble buffer gas and an active gas chosen to provide a desired spectral line. A pulse power source provides electrical pulses at repetition rates of 1000 Hz or greater and at voltages high enough to create electrical discharges between the electrodes to produce very high temperature, high density plasma pinches in the working gas providing radiation at the spectral line of the source or active gas. A fourth generation unit is described which produces 20 mJ, 13. 5 nm pulses into 2 steradians at repetition rates of 2000 Hz with xenon as the active gas. This unit includes a pulse power system having a resonant charger charging a charging capacitor bank, and a magnetic compression circuit comprising a pulse transformer for generating the high voltage electrical pulses at repetition rates of 2000 Hz or greater. Gas flows in the vacuum chamber are controlled to assure desired concentration of active gas in the discharge region and to minimize active gas concentration in the beam path downstream of the pinch region.

6728284, Apr 27, 2004

Jun 8, 1993

08/079177

Daniel L. Birx - Oakley CA
Don G. Ball - Livermore CA
Edward G. Cook - Livermore CA

The United States of America as represented by the United States Department of Energy - Washington DC

H03K 300

372 82, 359345

A multi-stage magnetic modulator provides a pulse train of Â40 kV electrical pulses at a 5-7 kHz repetition rate to a metal vapor laser. A fractional turn transformer steps up the voltage by a factor of 80 to 1 and magnetic pulse compression is used to reduce the pulse width of the pulse train. The transformer is fabricated utilizing a rod and plate stack type of construction to achieve a high packing factor. The pulses are controlled by an SCR stack where a plurality of SCRs are electrically connected in parallel, each SCR electrically connected to a saturable inductor, all saturable inductors being wound on the same core of magnetic material for enhanced power handling characteristics.

20020014599, Feb 7, 2002

Jun 6, 2001

09/875721

John Rauch - Poway CA, US
William Partlo - Poway CA, US
Igor Fomenkov - San Diego CA, US
Richard Ness - San Diego CA, US
Daniel Birx - Potomac MD, US
Richard Sandstrom - Encinitas CA, US
Stephan Melnychuk - Carisbad CA, US

G01J001/00

250/50400R

A high energy photon source. A pair of plasma pinch electrodes are located in a vacuum chamber. The chamber contains a working gas which includes a noble buffer gas and an active gas chosen to provide a desired spectral line. A pulse power source provides electrical pulses at repetition rates of 1000 Hz or greater and at voltages high enough to create electrical discharges between the electrodes to produce very high temperature, high density plasma pinches in the working gas providing radiation at the spectral line of the source or active gas. A fourth generation unit is described which produces 20 mJ, 13.5 nm pulses into 2 steradians at repetition rates of 2000 Hz with xenon as the active gas. This unit includes a pulse power system having a resonant charger charging a charging capacitor bank, and a magnetic compression circuit comprising a pulse transformer for generating the high voltage electrical pulses at repetition rates of 2000 Hz or greater.

60841982, Jul 4, 2000

Nov 6, 1998

9/187436

Daniel Birx - Oakley CA

B23K 1000

21912148

A high pulse repetition frequency (PRF) plasma gun is provided, which gun inlets a selected propellant gas into a column formed between a center electrode and a coaxial outer electrode, utilizes a solid state high repetition rate pulse driver to provide a voltage across the electrodes and provides a plasma initiator at the base of the column, which is normally operative when the driver is fully charged. For preferred embodiments, the initiator includes RF driven electrodes. The plasma expands from the base end of the column and off the exit end thereof. When used as a thruster, for example in space applications, the driver voltage and electrode lengths are selected such that the plasma for each pulse exits the column at approximately the same time the voltage across the electrodes reaches zero, thereby maximizing the thrust. When used as a radiation source, the voltage and electrode length are selected such that the plasma exits the column when the current is maximum. The plasma is magnetically pinched as it exits the column, thereby raising the plasma temperature, energizing an element in gas state applied to the pinch, for example through the center electrode to provide radiation at a desired wavelength.

60640723, May 16, 2000

Mar 15, 1999

9/268243

William N. Partlo - Poway CA
Igor V. Fomenkov - San Diego CA
Daniel L. Birx - Oakley CA

Cymer, Inc. - San Diego CA

H01J 3520

250504R

A high energy photon source. A pair of plasma pinch electrodes are located in a vacuum chamber. A working gas which includes a noble buffer gas and an active gas chosen to provide a desired spectral line. A pulse power source provides electrical pulses at voltage high enough to create electrical discharge between the electrodes to produce very high temperature, high density plasma pinch in the working gas providing radiation at the spectral line of the active gas. An external reflection radiation collector-director collects radiation produced in the plasma pinches and directs the radiation in a desired direction. In a preferred embodiment the active gas is lithium and the buffer gas is helium and the radiation-collector is coated with the material used for the electrodes. A good choice for the material is tungsten. In a second preferred embodiment the buffer gas is argon and lithium gas is produced by vaporization of solid lithium located in a hole along the axis of the central electrode of a coaxial electrode configuration.

53196651, Jun 7, 1994

Nov 6, 1992

7/972622

Daniel L. Birx - Oakley CA

Science Research Laboratory - Somerville MA

H01S 30975
H03K 301
H03B 1100
H04B 304

372 69

A high power electromagnetic pulse driver for generating sub-microsecond rise time pulses having energy contents greater than 1 joule includes an electromagnetic pulse compressor and an electromagnetic shock line for compressing the leading edges of those pulses. The shock line may use non-linear materials whose permeability or permittivity vary greatly with varying field strength. One material whose permeability varies by a useful amount is metglass, an amorphous alloy of silicon and iron. The high power electromagnetic pulse driver may drive gas discharge lasers.

57295620, Mar 17, 1998

Oct 31, 1996

8/739873

Daniel L. Birx - Oakley CA
Palash P. Das - Vista CA
Igor V. Fomenkov - San Diego CA
William N. Partlo - San Diego CA
Tom A. Watson - Carlsbad CA

Cymer, Inc. - San Diego CA
Advanced Pulse Power Technologies, Inc. - Oakley CA

H01S 300

372 38

A high voltage pulse power generating circuit capable of providing energy recovery is disclosed. The energy efficient pulse generating circuit source comprises a high voltage charge storing element which is periodically discharged into a compressor circuit. An energy recovery circuit coupled to the compressor circuit reverses the polarity of energy dissipated by the pulse power generating circuit and transfers the waste energy back to the power source. In a preferred embodiment, the pulse power generating circuit of the present invention utilizes an SCR switch for periodically discharging the charge storing element. This embodiment of the present invention provides pulses consistently and will not provide even a single missed pulse.