The Device Chain
The proposed chain has two magnetic stages. The first is a magnetic paramp or magnetic-amplifier front end driven by DC or audio. The second is a two-core differential second-harmonic saturable-core downconverter.
The point is not a metaphor about magnetic computation. The point is a concrete analog front-end question: can nonlinear magnetic elements perform useful sensing, amplification, or frequency translation with a fabrication path closer to boards, printed materials, and wound structures?
Fabrication Path
The source request is focused on practical process details: printable ferrite inks, amorphous ribbon laminates, plated windings, CNC scaffolds, controlled anneal steps, field annealing, and low-loss thin-film magnetic materials.
The pump-operation range named in the original request is 50 kHz to 1 MHz. Useful sources should help evaluate core material, winding geometry, loss, coupling, bias, pump drive, tuning, and repeatability in that range.
Requested Sources
- Papers, patents, service manuals, or technical reports combining magnetic paramp or mag-amp front ends with saturable-core downconversion.
- Process notes for printable ferrite, anneal schedules, field annealing, amorphous ribbon, or low-loss thin-film magnetic material.
- Industrial or military sources with winding counts, core specifications, tuning procedures, source and load impedance, or bias/pump details.
- Lab notes from printed magnetics, embedded windings, PCB-integrated magnetic devices, or additive magnetic structures.
Why This Route Matters
A reproducible magnetic-device process would give builders another path for rugged analog power, sensing, and frequency-conversion hardware. The attractive part is not novelty. It is the possibility of useful nonlinear behavior from cores, windings, bias, carrier injection, and magnetic material processes that can be fabricated and tested outside a semiconductor fab.
Original Post
Magnetic Paramp plus Second‑Harmonic Saturable‑Core Downconverter — Seeking Experts and Sources
I’m building a focused research thread on a fully diode‑free signal chain: magnetic paramp or mag‑amp front end driven by DC or audio, feeding a two‑core differential second‑harmonic saturable‑core downconverter, all manufacturable with PCB and additive techniques without clean rooms. This is about practical, reproducible fabrication routes using printed ferrite or amorphous ribbon laminates, plated windings, CNC scaffolds, and controlled anneal steps — not speculative theory.
What I’m looking for
Published papers, patents, service manuals, or technical reports that show combined paramp + saturable downconverter implementations or PCB/additive fabrication of high‑µ magnetic elements.
Practical process notes on printable ferrite inks, anneal schedules, field annealing, or low‑loss thin‑film magnetic materials suitable for 50 kHz to 1 MHz pump operation.
Historical sources from industrial or military archives that include winding counts, core specs, or tuning procedures for mag‑amps and second‑harmonic modulators.
People or labs who have prototyped printed magnetics, embedded windings, or integrated magnetic devices on PCB substrates.
Why this matters A working, reproducible fabrication flow would democratize robust, diode‑free analog power and sensing hardware and open new paths for rugged, high‑power, and radiation‑hard systems that do not rely on semiconductor fabs.
If you have references, scanned manuals, patent numbers, lab notes, or first‑hand experience, please comment or DM. I’m compiling a short annotated bibliography and a prototype roadmap and I’m open to collaboration.
Bench Circuit Inputs
A useful source should make a bench circuit concrete: core geometry, turns, winding polarity, bias current, carrier or pump frequency, source and load impedance, expected transfer behavior, and measured nonlinear magnetic response.