The application of photoconductors to fast rise time, high‐power switching is discussed. We report the successful switching of a 100‐kV system to generate a 1.8‐kA, <5‐ns rise time, 200‐ns duration electrical pulse in a 25‐&OHgr; load using a single photoconductor switch excited by aQ‐switched Nd: glass laser. The photoconductor was a 2.5‐cm‐long bar of single‐crystal, high‐resistivity silicon with a 0.5×0.5 cm cross section. Only a depth of about 1 mm of one side was used for conduction.