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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.

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Rooftop view of Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS)

Press Release

Scientists for the first time tracked ultrafast structural changes, captured in quadrillionths-of-a-second steps, as ring-shaped gas molecules burst open and unraveled.

Image - This illustration shows shape changes that occur in quadrillionths-of-a-second intervals in a ring-shaped molecule that was broken open by light. (SLAC)
News Feature

The fellowship will support their research on new capabilities for the lab's X-ray free-electron lasers and new telescope technology to look for signs of...

Zeeshan Ahmed and Agostino Marinelli, SLAC's 2015 Panofsky Fellows
News Feature

SLAC visiting scientist and consulting professor Claudio Pellegrini is honored for contributions to free-electron laser science.

Image - Claudio Pellegrini stands in the Linac Coherent Light Source Beam Transport Hall. The accelerated electron beam passes through here to the Undulator Hall, where electron bunches generate X-rays. (Michelle McCarron)
News Feature

An experiment at SLAC’s X-ray laser provides new insight into the ultrafast motions of a muscle protein in a basic biochemical reaction.

Computerized rendering of 3-D structure of myoglobin. The jagged green line represents a pulse of la
News Feature

Anne Sakdinawat, a SLAC scientist, has been selected to receive a grant to advance her work in producing and using new types of X-ray...

Image - Anne Sakdinawat (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
News Feature

A team led by Stanford University scientists is using software to breathe new life into results from past biological experiments at SLAC’s X-ray laser.

This illustration shows Tiny crystallized biomolecules in a liquid solution (right) are streamed into X-ray laser pulses (shown as a white beam) in this illustration of crystallography at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray laser.
Press Release

An experiment at SLAC's X-ray laser has revealed in atomic detail how a hypertension drug binds to a cellular receptor that plays a key...

Image - This photo shows a medical device used to monitor blood pressure. In a study at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray laser, researchers studied how a hypertension drug binds to a cellular receptor known as an angiotensin II type 1 receptor.
News Feature

Researchers use X-ray laser at SLAC to track light-triggered chemical reactions in a molecule that serves as a simple model for the conversion of...

IMAGE - Artistic rendering of a molecule severed by laser light, with a separate molecule (bottom right) from a solvent rushing in to bond with the just-split molecule. (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
News Feature

SLAC study of tiny nanocrystals provides new insight on the design and function of nanomaterials

Image - In this illustration, intense X-rays produced at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source strike nanowires to study an ultrafast "breathing" response in the crystals induced quadrillionths of a second earlier by pulses of optical laser light.
News Feature

Developed at SLAC’s LCLS, it could also yield new information from hard-to-study samples in materials science, chemistry and other fields.

Image - These charts show (a) the energy profile of two electron bunches that are separated by about 6 picoseconds, which are later stimulated to emit (b) two X-ray pulses separated by femtoseconds.
News Feature

For the first time, researchers have produced a 3-D image revealing some of the inner structure of an intact, infectious virus.

Image - This rendering shows a 3-D reconstruction of a Mimivirus, based on an analysis of a collection of X-ray diffraction patterns obtained in an experiment at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray laser. (Uppsala University)
News Feature

An X-ray laser experiment could lead to new drugs that lessen the side effects caused by powerful painkillers like morphine.

Image - This rendering shows a type of cellular membrane protein known as a delta opioid receptor (purple) with a compound derived from a naturally occurring peptide (orange, blue and red) bound inside its “pocket.” The peptide compound shows promise as a