kicksorter colloq.
(ˈkɪksɔːtə(r))
Also kick sorter.
[f. kick n.1 + sorter.]
An instrument that classifies electrical pulses according to their amplitude and registers the number received in each amplitude range; a pulse-height analyser.
| 1947 Rev. Sci. Instruments XVIII. 90/2 Five instruments, which have been named Pulse Analysers, Pulse Amplitude Analysers, or ‘Kicksorters’, have been developed in England and Canada. 1957 Economist 7 Sept. 767/2 (Advt.), But why ‘kick sorter’? Because it sorts out electrical ‘kicks’ or impulses according to their amplitude—more than 16,000 of them in each of 100 channels and at speeds up to 1,250 pulses per second. 1968 Brit. Med. Bull. XXIV. 259/1 The same equipment can also be used to generate a histogram of spike amplitude, comparable to the pulse-height analyser or ‘kick sorter’ used by the nuclear physicist. |