High speed coincident-flux magnetic storage principles

Abstract

In conventional coincident-current magnetic storage systems, a specific storage element is selected by simultaneously applying, to two or more intersecting wires, currents of magnitudes such that their sum will produce a magnetic field sufficient to switch the element and such that the presence of any one of the selecting currents alone will not cause the element to switch. In the system described here, a coincident summation of magnetic flux causes the element to switch, and the magnitudes of the currents inducing the flux are not critical. This allows the switching time to be freed of the current-selection- ratio limitation typical of the coincident-current selection systems. In the coincident-flux system, one may use selecting flux densities representing fields very much greater than the coercive field, giving very fast switching times.