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SLAC builds and uses various kinds of lasers to do scientific research. 

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PULSE graduate student Jian Chen in a laser lab at SLAC.

News Feature

Their work will deepen our understanding of matter in extreme conditions and fundamental particle physics.

Panofsky Fellows 2018
Video

This video explains how researchers at SLAC are using a method known as ultrafast electron diffraction (UED) to develop an atomic-level understanding of how...

Video
Press Release

To break, or not to break: An unprecedented atomic movie captures the moment when molecules decide how to respond to light.

UED Bond Breaking
Animation
Animation of a trifluoroiodomethane molecule (carbon shown in black, fluoride in green, iodine in pink) responding to laser light. The...
UED Bond Breaking
Press Release

SLAC’s high-speed ‘electron camera’ shows for the first time the coexistence of solid and liquid in laser-heated gold, providing new clues for designing materials...

UED Gold Melting
Animation
This movie shows the transition of a gold sample from a solid (dotted pattern) to a liquid (ring pattern) after...
UED Gold Melting
Animation

This animation shows the results of a recent study at SLAC, in which researchers used a powerful beam of electrons to watch gold melt...

UED Gold Melting
News Feature

Research conducted at the atomic scale could help explain how electric currents move efficiently through hybrid perovskites, promising materials for solar cells.

Illustration of what happens when simulated sunlight hits perovskite
News Feature

Combining X-ray and electron data from two cutting-edge SLAC instruments, researchers make the first observation of the rapid atomic response of iron-platinum nanoparticles to...

ultrafast electron diffraction on iron-platinum
News Feature

A new way to observe this deformation as it happens can help study a wide range of phenomena, from meteor impacts to high-performance ceramics...

Image depicting an experiment at LCLS that shocks a tantalum sample
News Feature

This novel method could shrink the equipment needed to make laser pulses billionths of a billionth of a second long for studying ultra-speedy electron...

In this illustration, a near-infrared laser beam hits a piece of ordinary glass and triggers a process called high harmonic generation
Press Release

SLAC’s X-ray laser and Matter in Extreme Conditions instrument allow researchers to examine the exotic precipitation in real time as it materializes in the...

A cutaway depicts the interior of Neptune (right) and an illustration of diamond rain (left).