Plenary Speakers

Luis Redondo (Senior Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering in 2004, from the IST-UTL, Lisbon, in 2004. He is currently Coordinator Professor at Lisbon School of Engineering, ISEL, being the Electrical Engineer master’s degree supervisor, teaching Power Electronics and Pulsed Power. In 2011 he founded EnergyPulse Systems, EPS, company that develops, manufactures and sells solid-state pulsed generators, where he is the technology managing partner. Luis Redondo is a member of the Euro-Asian Pulsed Power Conference, EAPPC, and High-Power Particle Beams, BEAMS, International Committees. He was the Chair of the EAPPC-BEAMS-MEGAGAUS conference held in Estoril, Portugal in 2016, and of the Bioelectrics Symposium held in Lisbon, September 10-13, 2023. From 1st September 2024 Luis Redondo is the Senior Editor for Industrial, Commercial, and Biological Applications of Plasmas, of the Transactions on Plasma Science (TPS), from NPSS/IEEE.

This talk reviews the main Semiconductor-Based Marx Modulators, SBMM, as a key technology enabling pulsed power systems in Industrial and Commercial Applications, spanning from food processing, medical use, accelerator research, manufacturing processes, agriculture practices to environmental issues. This includes the main SBMM topologies for monopolar to bipolar operation for different types of load, the switching technologies, the switch materials from Si, SiC to GaN, and the trigger techniques to switch many devices synchronously at different potentials. SBMM offer a multiplicity of advantages, such as electrical efficiency, precise pulse control, fast switching, and high repetition rates, while its modular and scalable design supports flexible system configurations. Nevertheless, applications have intrinsic characteristics and impose several challenges, from load dynamics, current and voltage peaks, average powers, pulse rise and fall times, to regulatory issues and operational issues. The strategies used to reach the best results in specific environments will be addressed. Practical examples of SBMM operation will be presented. Also, the future trends in terms of new applications, new materials, scaling up, thermal management, circuit drives, and component evolution will be discussed.

Edl Schamiloglu received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Columbia University in New York, NY. He received his Ph.D. from Cornell University in 1988. He joined the University of New Mexico as Assistant Professor in 1988 and today he is Distinguished Professor and Director of the Directed Energy Center at the University of New Mexico (DEC@UNM). He is also a Nonresident Fellow at the Center for Disruptive Technology and Future Warfare, National Defense University. He is a Fellow of the IEEE, a Fellow of the American Physical Society, and a Fellow of the SUMMA Foundation. He received numerous awards from the IEEE and most recently he received the 2025 UNM Annual Research Lectureship Honor. He is Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Plasma Science.

The field of High Power Microwaves (HPM) will soon be entering its 7th decade. HPM started in the late 1960s following the emergence of modern pulsed power, with the capability of generating voltage pulses that are 100s kV-several MV along with currents in the several kA-10s kA range. During its first 25 years we witnessed the power derby between the US and the Soviet Union/Russia. That phase ended in the mid-1990s as pulse shortening emerged as a fundamental limitation. Pulse shortening is a term that was coined at the time to describe that the HPM power level being generated was so large that the wave electric field caused plasma to form in the electromagnetic interaction structure, leading to the disruption of microwave generation even though an electron beam was still propagating through the structure. Attention was then given to using shorter pulsewidths (no longer aspiring for a microsecond-long driving voltage pulse) but adding repetitive pulsing capability. The mid-1990s also witnessed significant advances in virtual prototyping using particle-in-cell (PIC) codes. For the first time, PIC codes were able to a priori predict the performance of HPM sources. This advanced the field significantly. During this period the field became very much more international as well with significant programs in Europe, Israel, and Asia, particularly with the emergence of significant programs in China since 2000. Today China dominates the field. In the 2010s we witnessed interest in using metamaterial structures in HPM sources. These included truly double negative (negative permittivity and negative permeability) interaction structures but also included photonic crystal structures. Today the rapid emergence of AI is certain to revolutionize HPM source design. This presentation will highlight the major milestones in the field of HPM since its inception and will discuss how AI is just beginning to influence the field and recent examples of how will be described. AI is also undoubtedly going to assist the field with HPM amplifier design, with the highly sought after goal of achieving waveform diversity.

Hua Li received her B.Sc. and Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering and High Voltage and Insulation Technology from Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) in 2002 and 2007. She worked as a visiting scholar at the University of Southampton, UK from 2015 to 2016. She is currently a Professor and Ph.D. supervisor at HUST. Her main research interests focus on pulsed power technology and film capacitors. She has presided over 4 projects supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. She currently serves as a group member of IEC/TC33 Working Group, and an editorial board member of IEEE Electrical Insulation Magazine (EIM).

Pulsed energy storage technology realizes high-power output through rapid discharge after storing energy at a low power level. High energy density serves as the foundation for the practical application of the electromagnetic acceleration systems. This report presents the energy storage mechanism and energy release control methods of high density pulsed energy storage for electromagnetic acceleration, sorts out the scientific issues including failure mechanism, aging characteristics and processing adaptability, and summarizes the development trends of relevant technology. It provides theoretical and technical fundemantals for the advancement of pulsed energy storage technology for electromagnetic acceleration.