Amplifikat

Amplifikat is a term used in several fields to refer to a device or process that increases the strength or magnitude of something, most commonly an electrical signal. The word derives from Latin amplificare, meaning to enlarge or expand.

In electronics, an amplifikat (amplifier) is an active device that increases the amplitude of an input signal. It requires external power and provides output with greater voltage, current, or power than the input, quantified by a gain value (often expressed as a ratio or in decibels). Amplifiers are classified by the quantity they amplify: voltage amplifiers, current amplifiers, and power amplifiers. Typical performance characteristics include gain, bandwidth, linearity, noise, distortion, and saturation. Common implementations use transistors (bipolar or field-effect) or operational amplifiers (op-amps), and configurations such as common-emitter or common-source stages, or integrated circuits.

Beyond electronics, amplification occurs in biology and chemistry (DNA amplification, such as PCR, which creates many copies of a DNA sequence) and in linguistics as a rhetorical device that intensifies a statement by extending or elaborating it. In information processing, signal chains may include filters and attenuators along with amplifiers to preserve signal quality.

Because the term is used across disciplines, its meaning depends on context, but the central idea remains increasing strength or visibility of a signal or quantity.