Partial filling of a pulse detonation combustor in a pulse detonation combustor based hybrid engine

An engine (100) contains at least one pulse detonation combustor (103) having a combustion chamber (106) and an exit nozzle (107) coupled to and downstream of the combustion chamber (107). During operation of the at least one pulse detonation combustor (103) a detonation occurs within the combustion chamber (107) and at least one of a fuel fill fraction and purge fraction of the at least one pulse detonation combustor (103) are utilized to offset a temperature peak of said detonation from a pressure peak of said detonation. The fuel fill fraction is defined as 1 - purge fraction, and the purge fraction is the ratio of the purge time of the at least one pulse detonation combustor (103) to a sum of the purge time of the at least one pulse detonation combustor (103) and a fuel fill time of the at least one pulse detonation combustor.