Future of Solid State Coiling?

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Stephen Conner by way of Terry Fritz <teslalist-at-qwest-dot-net>" <steve-at-scopeboy-dot-com>

Hi all,

I've subscribed to the TCML for about 2 years on and off. In that time I've 
seen a tremendous explosion in the popularity and power of solid-state 
coils. The biggest SSTCs now seem to be outperforming a lot of conventional 
coils of comparable size, at least in the few seconds before they 
self-destruct. So I have a couple of questions for you to ponder.

What is the biggest spark length anyone has had from a SSTC so far? Justin 
& Aron's 32" is the most spectacular claim I've heard yet.

What is the way forward to even bigger sparks? Just now, we have 
MOT-powered hi-voltage SSTCs, DRSSTCs, OLTCs, regular SSTCs with IGBTs, 
plus probably a bunch of others that I forgot about, all poised to invade 
the mini/midi coil sector as soon as the NSTs run out... So far, in terms 
of actual results, the MOT-powered coil (How about calling it a HVSSTC?) 
seems to be most promising. But I'm sure everyone else has their own 
favourite designs...

Steve C.