Control Amplifier Bandwidth
 and Slew Rate

The bandwidth or frequency response of the control amplifier or potentiostat amplifier is related to the maximum rate at which the output can change.

For a simple conversion, consider the 1 volt sine wave in the sketch below. From math tables, the maximum slope of sin(x) is 1.0 since 

  d sin(x)/dx = 1.  at x=0

For our 1 Volt sine wave, the maximum slope corresponds to about 6 V/cycle, or 6×F V/s, where F is a hypothetical "maximum frequency." Because the bandwidth specification is often stated as the frequency at which the signal is attenuated by 30%, using 3×F V/s is a bit more realistic. Remember, however, that this is only a crude conversion.