CYCLOTRON

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cyclotron mean? 

• CYCLOTRON (noun)
  The noun CYCLOTRON has 1 sense:

1. an accelerator that imparts energies of several million electron-volts to rapidly moving particles

  Familiarity information: CYCLOTRON used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CYCLOTRON (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An accelerator that imparts energies of several million electron-volts to rapidly moving particles

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("cyclotron" is a kind of...):

accelerator; atom smasher; particle accelerator (a scientific instrument that increases the kinetic energy of charged particles)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "cyclotron"):

bevatron (a cyclotron that accelerates protons up to several billion electron volts)

synchrocyclotron (cyclotron that achieves relativistic velocities by modulating the frequency of the accelerating electric field)

synchrotron (cyclotron in which the electric field is maintained at a constant frequency)

 Context examples 

A type of radiation therapy that uses tiny particles called neutrons made by a machine called a cyclotron.

(Fast-neutron beam radiation, NCI Dictionary)

The waves, called electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves, reveal the temperature and density of plasma particles in the magnetosphere.

(Scientists deepen understanding of magnetic fields that surround Earth, National Science Foundation)