A term referring to the rate of sampling of a detector output. To characterize a chromatographic peak at least 20–30 data points must be collected. The data acquisition rate, usually measured in hertz, defines how many data points per second are collected while the peak is moving through the detector. For fast chromatography, the data acquisition rate must be sufficiently rapid to characterize a narrow peak. Modern detectors have data rates up to 80 Hz; also known as data rate and sampling rate.