News archive

Browse the full collection of SLAC press releases and news features and stay up to date on the latest scientific advancements at the laboratory.

X-ray laser experiments show that intense light distorts the structure of a thermoelectric material in a unique way, opening a new avenue for controlling the properties of materials.

Illustration shows two ball-and-stick molecules in pink and red separated by a blurred streak representing how the first structure is slightly deformed into the second.

Sandwiching wiggly proteins between two other layers allows scientists to get the most detailed images yet of a protein that’s key to the spread of acute myeloid leukemia.

Red molecules are sandwiched between a blue inner shell and purple outer shell.

Scientists discover that triggering superconductivity with a flash of light involves the same fundamental physics that are at work in the more stable states needed for devices, opening a new path toward producing room-temperature superconductivity.

Exposing the material to a magnetic field

Over the past few years, Kathleen Ratcliffe and Tien Fak Tan have worked together to help build the superconducting accelerator that will drive new scientific discoveries at SLAC’s X-ray laser.

SLAC's Tien Tan, left, and Kathleen Ratcliffe pose for a portrait outside a SLAC building.

Less than a millionth of a billionth of a second long, attosecond X-ray pulses allow researchers to peer deep inside molecules and follow electrons as they zip around and ultimately initiate chemical reactions.

Illustration of attosecond coherent electron motions.
News Feature · VIA Stanford Report

Nine named AAAS Fellows from Stanford and SLAC

Nine faculty from Stanford and SLAC are among the 564 new Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

head shots of all AAAs fellows

The results cap 15 years of detective work aimed at understanding how these materials transition into a superconducting state where they can conduct electricity with no loss.

Conceptual illlustration showing a beam of light entering from the right and hitting a material, ejecting a sphere representing an electron
News Feature · VIA Symmetry Magazine

What is a quantum network?

As we step into the quantum age, here are four things to know about quantum networks.

Illustration of tree roots and mushrooms
News Feature · VIA Symmetry Magazine

The quantum squeeze

A technique from the newest generation of quantum sensors is helping scientists to use the limitations of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle to their advantage.

Illustration of a squid
News Feature · VIA Symmetry Magazine

More than one way to make a qubit

Scientists are exploring a variety of ways to make quantum bits. We may not need to settle on a single one.

Illustration of butterfly collection