SLAC topics

Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) RSS feed

The Linac Coherent Light Source at SLAC, the world’s first hard X-ray free-electron laser, takes X-ray snapshots of atoms and molecules at work, revealing fundamental processes in materials, technology and living things.

Visit LCLS website

Rooftop view of Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS)

News Feature

Understanding how a material’s electrons interact with vibrations of its nuclear lattice could help design and control novel materials, from solar cells to high-temperature...

Press Release

Just as Schroedinger's Cat is both alive and dead, an atom or molecule can be in two different states at once. Now scientists have...

Illustration of a molecule splitting into two Schroedinger's Cat states
News Feature

A ‘nonlinear’ phenomenon that seemingly turns materials transparent is seen for the first time in X-rays at SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source.

Illustration of an LCLS experiment in which a sample seemed to disapper
News Feature

The mirrors only differ by one atom in flatness, from end to end.

News Feature

The new MFX station expands the X-ray laser’s capability and flexibility for biological studies, which are increasingly in demand at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light...

News Feature

Four Stanford students receive funding for work on novel accelerators and beams for SLAC's X-ray laser.

Animation

The side-to-side motion of electrons in a beam can be circular, elliptical, or linear, depending on the position of the Delta undulator's magnet rows...

A graphic of the Delta undulator showing circular, elliptical and linear polarization of light.
News Feature

A new device at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory allows researchers to explore the properties and dynamics of molecules with circularly...

Electrons spiral through the Delta undulator.
News Feature

Manipulating electron beams of X-ray lasers with regular laser light could potentially open up new scientific avenues.

Beam of electrons illustration.
News Feature

Taken at SLAC, microscopic footage of exploding liquids will give researchers more control over experiments at X-ray lasers.

Press Release

High-speed X-ray camera reveals ultrafast atomic motions at the root of organisms’ ability to turn light into biological function.

a protein from photosynthetic bacteria
News Feature

The lab’s signature particle highway prepares to enter another era of transformative science as the home of the LCLS-II X-ray laser.

SLAC linear accelerator building at sunset