an accelerator in which charged particles are accelerated along a linear path by potential differences applied to a number of electrodes along their path
Sometimes shortened to: linac
linear accelerator in American English
a high-energy accelerator in which charged particles are given electrostatic acceleration in a straight line at periodic intervals as they pass between metal tubes along the flight path
Examples of 'linear accelerator' in a sentence
linear accelerator
"The Field blinked for a second as the loops of the linear accelerator eased up through the black energy shell.
Niven, Larry & Pournelle, Jerry THE MOAT AROUND MURCHESON'S EYE (1993)