Overview
Engineers and scientists on the EMS team pioneered the use of most of the high-power techniques taken for granted today:
- Oil and water dielectric pulse-forming line / Blumlein pulse generators
- Marx generators
- Intense bremsstrahlung, z-pinch, plasma radiation and X‑ray sources
- Low-jitter, multi-site switching systems
In fact, L3Harris scientists coined the term “pulsed power” in 1962.
That innovative spirit persists today with next-generation induction voltage adders (IVA), high-power microwave systems, high energy density, high-reliability pulsed power and power electronics systems, and severe-duty solid-state switches.
The L3Harris EMS team has more than 50 years experience designing, building, testing and operating high-voltage, high-current, pulsed power and power electronics systems. More than 300 major systems have been delivered to customers worldwide, including:
- Pulsed electron beam and X‑ray sources
- Flash X‑ray radiography systems
- Lightning simulators
- Pulsed plasma devices
- High-energy capacitor banks
- High-power microwave systems
- Electromagnetic pulse (EMP)generators
- High-average power modulators
- Large area EMP simulators
L3Harris’ Electromagnetic Systems Pedigree Pulsed Power Systems and Facilities
The EMS team began as the pioneers in NWE simulator engineering, fabrication, installation and operation. This experience led to the development of pulsed power hardware for other military and industrial applications. L3Harris scientists and engineers have provided keystone solutions to new problems for domestic and international customers, including:
- High-voltage Marx generators
- High-energy capacitor banks for EM gun research
- Laser drivers
- EMP generators
- IVAs for radiographic applications and special modulators for RF and EMI testing applications
Nuclear Weapon Effects (NWE) Simulators
EMS excels in very intense pulsed electron beams and X‑ray source technology, or “radiation simulators”. Because of this unique knowledge of technology, L3Harris has been at the forefront of the X‑ray and EMP simulation field for more than 50 years and is the only U.S. supplier of products supporting above-ground nuclear effects testing for space, strategic and interceptor programs. L3Harris has designed, developed, and fabricated most of the largest radiation simulation facilities in the world. These systems range in peak power outputs from 0.1 to 30 terawatts.
Advanced Pulsed Power Component and Subsystem Research and Development
L3Harris maintains leadership in pulsed power in part by developing new components, subsystems and systems. Today new programs are developing vacuum and solid-state switches, light-activated switches, advanced diodes, novel pulse forming networks and high-power microwave generators to enable tomorrow’s applications.
Multi-megawatt Modulators and Power Electronics
L3Harris designs and builds high-average-power, power supplies, power conditioning units and modulators for military and industrial applications including ride-through systems, rectifiers, laser drivers, klystron transmitters, magnet drivers and novel power modulators. This core competency will become increasingly important to U.S. security as military services come to increasingly rely upon power electronics for propulsion and weapon systems.
Pulsed Power for Flash Radiography Applications
L3Harris supports advanced radiography for the stock-pile stewardship programs, and have been creatively involved in many aspects of the most intense flash X‑ray (FXR) sources in the U.S. and in Europe. The L3Harris EMS team is the only industrial IVA systems supplier for these applications. That included participating in the design of Lawrence Livermore National Lab’s work-horse FXR core punch facility, devising and building the injector for the first axis of the Los Alamos National Lab Dual Axis Radiographic Hydrodynamic Test (DARHT) facility, delivered a TriMeV accelerator, and for Sandia National Laboratories (SNLA), supporting the design of the 20 megavolt Hermes III and carried the design of Radiographic Integrated Test Stand (RITS) through detailed fabrication drawings. This work continues today in support of SNLA initiatives. L3Harris has completed the construction of all major components of an IVA system for Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) in the U.K. The EMS team will assist in the deployment of this new machine in the U.K. and later in France.
