A magnetic sense amplifier

A new mode of operation of a balanced magnetic circuit is described. With this new mode of operation, which utilizes pulsed current excitation, the detection sensitivity of the magnetic modulator circuit is combined with the high-speed amplification of parametric buildup. This combination permits detection of low-level current pulses applied during a specified time interval of the excitation sequence and provides subsequent amplification of the detected signal. Matched square-loop toroids are used. Signal currents which are a small fraction of the coercive MMF have been successfully detected. The limit of detection sensitivity depends upon the matching of the two cores. The parametric buildup has been made to occur for pump cycle times of 30 μs to 120 μs, depending upon the magnetic material used. The signal information is retained when the pulse excitation sequence is interrupted during buildup because the signal information is stored as a flux unbalance in the two cores during the time interval between excitation pulses. The use of this circuit mode as a sense amplifier for the detection and amplification of sense winding currents in magnetic memories is suggested.