Linear amplifier

A linear amplifier is an electronic circuit whose output is proportional to its input, but capable of delivering more power into a load. The term usually refers to a type of radio-frequency (RF) power amplifier, some of which have output power measured in kilowatts, and are used in amateur radio. Other types of linear amplifier are used in audio and laboratory equipment. Linearity refers to the ability of the amplifier to produce signals that are accurate copies of the input. A linear amplifier responds to different frequency components independently, and tends not to generate harmonic distortion or intermodulation distortion. No amplifier can provide perfect linearity however, because the amplifying devices—transistors or vacuum tubes—follow nonlinear transfer function and rely on circuitry techniques to reduce those effects. There are a number of amplifier classes providing various trade-offs between implementation cost, efficiency, and signal accuracy.