A pure sine wave has one frequency. But when that sine wave passes through a non-linear element — a saturating core, a gas discharge, a diode — new frequency components appear at integer multiples of the original. These are harmonics.
If the original signal is at 1 MHz:
- 2nd harmonic: 2 MHz
- 3rd harmonic: 3 MHz
- 4th harmonic: 4 MHz
- ...and so on
A square wave (like the output of a pulsed excitation circuit) is particularly rich in harmonics — it contains all odd harmonics (3rd, 5th, 7th...).
Why it matters for Open Energy
Harmonics are the mechanism by which non-linear systems transfer energy between frequencies. A system that generates harmonics inside a resonant circuit can potentially couple energy from one frequency band to another — and if the resonant circuit has high Q at one of those harmonic frequencies, energy can accumulate there.
This is not speculative physics — it's how parametric amplifiers work in telecommunications, how non-linear optics generates laser harmonics, and how plasma physicists explain energy coupling in tokamaks. The open question is whether these well-established mechanisms, applied in the specific configurations described in the 768 patents, produce anomalous energy conversion.