What is the significance of the slew rate in a voltage follower configuration of an operational amplifier?

The slew rate is the maximum speed at which an op‑amp’s output voltage can change, measured in volts per microsecond. In a voltage follower (unity‑gain buffer), the output is forced to track the input exactly, so the output can never change faster than the op‑amp’s slew rate allows. If the input suddenly jumps, the follower’s output will lag until the voltage change is completed at the allowed rate, which limits how quickly the circuit can respond to fast signals. For example, with a 10 V peak‑to‑peak sinusoid at 10 kHz, a 1 V/µs slew rate would only allow about 0. 1 V rise per cycle, so the output would be distorted.