Applications of amorphous magnetic materials at very-high magnetization rates (invited)

Amorphous ferromagnetic alloys are finding increased application in high-energy pulse-power systems and in high-frequency switched-mode power supplies. The peak powers in these applications differ by several orders of magnitude as do the core sizes; however, these applications do share similar very-high magnetization rates often measured in teslas per microsecond. In this paper the important characteristics of amorphous magnetic materials used at high magnetization rates are reviewed. Domain models for very-high magnetization rates are discussed. The effects on magnetic losses of differing voltage waveform excitations are calculated for applications which require nonconstant rates of dB/dt. Finally, several applications utilizing magnetic amorphous alloys at high magnetization rates, in both research devices and potential commercial applications, are described. Pulse-power devices based on amorphous alloy cores have already reached multiterawatt peak output power levels with pulses shorter than 100 ns. Petawatt peak-power devices are on the drawing boards.