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The electrolytic detector, or the bare-point electrolytic detector as it was also called, was a type of detector (demodulator) used in early radio receivers. First used by Canadian radio researcher Reginald Fessenden in 1903, it was used until about 1913, after which it was superseded by vacuum tube detectors such as the Fleming valve and the Audion. It was considered very sensitive and reliable compared to other detectors available at the time such as the magnetic detector and the coherer. It was one of the first rectifying detectors, able to receive AM (sound) transmissions. On December 24, 1906, US Naval ships with radio receivers equipped with Fessendon's electrolytic detectors received the first AM radio broadcast from Fessenden's Brant Rock, Massachusetts transmitter, consisting of a program of Christmas music. ==History== Fessenden, more than any other person, is responsible for developing amplitude modulation (AM) radio transmission around 1900. While working to develop AM transmitters, he realized that the radio wave detectors used in existing radio receivers were not suitable to receive AM signals. The radio transmitters of the time transmitted information by radiotelegraphy; the transmitter was turned on and off by the operator using a switch called a telegraph key producing pulses of radio waves, to transmit text data using Morse code. Thus receivers didn't have to extract an audio signal from the radio signal, but only detected the presence or absence of the radio frequency to produce "clicks" in the earphone representing the pulses of Morse code. The device that did this was called a "detector". The detector used in receivers of that day, called a coherer, simply acted as a switch, that conducted current in the presence of radio waves, and thus did not have the capability to demodulate, or extract the audio signal from, an amplitude modulated radio wave. The simplest way to extract the sound waveform from an AM signal is to rectify it; remove the oscillations on one side of the wave, converting it from an alternating current to a varying direct current. The variations in the amplitude of the radio wave that represent the sound waveform will cause variations in the current, and thus can be converted to sound by an earphone. To do this a rectifier is required, an electrical component that conducts electric current in only one direction and blocks current in the opposite direction. It was known at the time that passing current through solutions of electrolytes such as acids could have this unilateral conduction property. In 1902 Fessenden developed what he called a "barretter" detector that would rectify an AM signals, but it was not very sensitive. The barretter used a fine platinum wire, called Wollaston wire, manufactured as a platinum core in a silver sheath that had to be stripped off with acid. In the process of stripping some Wollaston wire, Fessenden left it immersed in acid too long, eating away most of the wire until only a tip remained in contact with the solution; he noted that it responded well to radio signals being generated nearby, and could be used as new type of detector. This story was disputed at the time, with credit for the discovery also given to Michael I. Pupin, W. Schloemilch, Hugo Gernsback and others. However, it is apparent that Fessenden was the first to put the device to practical use. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「electrolytic detector」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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