Discrete-jump model of Barkhausen noise 2026-10-18
An explicit constructed model separates slow magnetization drift from discrete collective jumps:Here is the Heaviside step function, the Dirac delta function, a smooth drift rate, and the jump times. The ideal discontinuities stand for events shorter than the resolved timescale; actual magnetic domain walls move over finite times. This equation stipulates jump sizes rather than deriving them from atomic spin. With in the preceding geometry, subtracting the smooth background leaves .
Let a stable linear filter have causal impulse response , normalized by , and let be a constant dimensionless voltage gain. The output is a convolution:A simple low-pass filter has , with time constant . Its output pulse has peak proportional to and signed area . Integrating the convolution proves area preservation because ; a wider filter response lowers peaks and lengthens tails. This ideal filter models resolution, rather than claiming the cited instrument had exactly this response.
The nearby positive jumps in the figure have additive negative pulse areas even when their tails overlap. For the first of the pair still has of its initial height when the second arrives. Thresholding can merge those responses into one detected event; limited signal bandwidth also obscures their separation. The total signed area still records the sum if the complete response is integrated, but cannot identify how that sum was partitioned into events. Equal simultaneous jumps are exactly indistinguishable from a single jump of their summed size in this linear measurement. Oppositely signed simultaneous changes can cancel.
Area preservation requires the stated electronics. A zero-DC stage after the low-pass filter has responseConsequently over the complete response: a main pulse is followed by a compensating tail. Integrating only a threshold-selected lobe, clipping the record, or saturating the amplifier breaks the simple pulse-area inference. Recovering a magnetization change from such a readout needs the calibrated frequency response and an appropriate reconstruction. Neither the audible crackle nor the displayed voltage is a direct staircase of magnetization.
Filtered shot noise 2026-10-18
Let be the complete current-to-voltage frequency response from detector input to readout, in . For a real stable linear time-invariant system, the shot contribution to the output voltage variance isIf with feedback electrical resistance , a reference voltage gain , and dimensionless normalized frequency response , thenThis is the effective noise bandwidth for unit reference magnitude. The transimpedance amplifier factor converts electric current to voltage; multiplies voltage. Neither is an additional noise source merely because it amplifies an existing fluctuation. In contrast, a real amplifier adds input voltage noise and input current noise, and its feedback resistor contributes thermal electrical noise. Those terms need their own transfers to the output. In particular, input voltage noise generally has a different transfer from an injected detector electric current. Simply multiplying every input specification by is incorrect.
For a unit-gain exponential low-pass filter, with time constant ,The cutoff frequency is not . An independent time-domain derivation sums independent event contributions to giveThe same reasoning for a rectangular averaging gate has on and zero elsewhere, hence effective noise bandwidth and variance , agreeing with the shot noise counting model. Equal numerical durations do not make these two different linear filters equivalent.
Shot noise photocurrent measurement 2026-10-18
MIT's guide uses an illuminated vacuum photodiode, with collecting anode positive relative to the emitting cathode. A transimpedance amplifier gives ; a multimeter reads its mean. The fluctuation path rejects below , adds roughly tenfold voltage gain, then nominal hundredfold preamplification and a – band-pass filter; the readout measures root mean square voltage. With diode bias off, a sinusoid at the test port calibrates . Restore bias, retain gain settings, vary lamp brightness, and repeat both readings. The guide warns about overload; it supplies a procedure, not measured results.[ref]
Functional photocurrent measurement: separate mean-current, fluctuation and calibration paths
. Original functional diagram organizing the laboratory's measurement roles; it is not a component-level circuit reproduction. includes current-to-voltage conversion and the complete fluctuation path. The dark comparison below is an additional control. Details.The inference can be expressed without relying on nominal passband edges. Let denote the calibrated voltage transfer after the conversion, so and define . Under independent arrivals and an unchanged additive background,The slope of voltage variance against mean electric current can therefore estimate . A free intercept accounts for a constant background; forcing the line through zero generally biases the slope. The root mean square readings must have their mean removed and then be squared. Subtracting two root mean square amplitudes does not subtract independent variances. Estimate the variance from successive records; averaging the waveforms first would suppress the fluctuation being measured.
Additional controls sharpen this interpretation. Block the light with detector bias, temperature, and gain unchanged; this preserves dark current and electronics while removing photocurrent. Repeat this dark comparison between illumination settings to check drift. If independent dark arrivals have mean magnitude and illuminated arrivals add , their spectra add: . Subtracting the unchanged dark variance isolates . This subtraction model assumes unchanged transfers and independence; switching off bias for gain calibration is a different control and need not preserve the dark background.
Vary measured rather than assuming lamp knob position is proportional to photocurrent. Check collection versus bias to identify a range where incomplete collection is negligible; a space charge limited tube can correlate transfers. Verify that the transimpedance amplifier remains linear and that its frequency response is unchanged over the illumination range. Changing signal bandwidth should change the excess variance through ; compare inferred input spectra in several bands. Correlated fluctuations of the light source can add a contribution scaling approximately as , while an electronics floor can hide the linear term at small electric currents. A fitted line over a short range alone does not establish independent transfers.
The gain calibration must include the same detector-to-readout path used for noise, or explicitly supply any omitted transfer. Detector capacitance, finite collection time, amplifier voltage and current noise, thermal electrical noise, pickup, clipping, and finite recording precision limit the inference. Current-dependent electrical impedance or heating can make a background current-dependent too. Since contains squared gain, a small fractional error in gain produces approximately twice that fractional error in the predicted variance scale. Knowing a nominal gain and two cutoff settings is insufficient.
Transistor small-signal amplifier 2026-10-18
An original teaching model exposes the roles of input loading, output loading and the supply. Choose a small-signal model with positive input electrical resistance , transconductance , and output electrical resistance . Its controlled output current source draws from the output node toward the reference node. This chosen sign gives an inverting voltage gain; it is not the historical contact circuit's sign convention.
Assume a fixed operating point, negligible reverse coupling, a frequency range where coupling capacitors pass the signal, and negligible other capacitances and transit delays. A collector resistor connects the output to a steady ideal supply ; an external electrical load is coupled through a capacitor, so it draws no direct current. The input source has series electrical resistance . All voltages below are small departures from the operating point. An ideal fixed supply has zero incremental voltage and therefore becomes the reference node in the small-signal model.
Define and , where . Input voltage division and output Kirchhoff's current law giveConsequently the port voltage gain, overall source-to-output voltage gain, and load current gain magnitudes areThis current gain uses load electric current, not all the controlled-source electric current. It is also a different port definition from the historical emitter-to-collector current gain. Larger attenuates the input; smaller attenuates the output.
For a sinusoid input signal, use root mean square voltages. The power gain from accepted input signal power to useful load power isUnlike , this tends to zero as either or . Differentiation givesThus matching the output electrical load maximizes delivered power in this unilateral resistive model. For fixed source voltage, input loading multiplies by ; the accepted-input power gain above excludes the loss in .
Choose , , , and . Then . With and root mean square, the input is and the inverted output has magnitude root mean square. Hence and : . These are calculated values of the chosen model, not historical measurements.
With the same parameters but , while . At , while . Neither current gain nor voltage gain alone establishes power gain.
For the direct current load line in the figure, choose , and , consistent with . Locally extend the model as . With the external electrical load isolated at direct current, its intersection with is . Keeping small compared with the available voltage headroom is essential; extrapolation to arbitrarily large signals would be unphysical.
At the chosen operating point the collector supply delivers : is dissipated in and in the output device. Under a small signal, that energy flow is redistributed to provide load power. The incremental controlled current source hides the supply's steady energy flow; it does not create energy. A real complete amplifier also needs its input biasing network and has further losses. This calculation establishes neither its total efficiency nor a universal law for point-contact transistors.
Voltage gain 2026-10-18
The ratio of output to input signal electric potential difference for specified source and load conditions. A signed voltage gain records whether the output reverses polarity; its value can depend on frequency.


