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Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) RSS feed

SSRL is a pioneering synchrotron radiation facility known for outstanding science, technological innovation and user support. It provides extremely bright X-rays that scientists use for a wide range of research that probes matter on the scales of atoms and molecules.

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Aerial view of Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL)

News Feature

In a recent experiment at SLAC's Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, scientists "tickled" atoms to explore the flow of heat and energy across materials at...

Photo - A view of a materials science experimental setup at SLAC's Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL). The circular instrument that frames this photo is part of a diffractometer that was used to align samples and a detector with X-rays.
News Feature

Scientists at SLAC and Stanford show how high-temperature superconductivity emerges out of magnetism in an iron pnictide, a class of materials with great potential...

An illustration of electrons pairing up like dancers at a party
News Feature

Windows that darken to filter out sunlight in response to electric current, function much like batteries. Now, X-ray studies at SLAC provide a crystal-clear...

lithium ions interact with an ultrathin sheet of nickel oxide
News Feature

SLAC researchers have found a new way to transform graphite into diamond. The approach may have implications for industrial applications ranging from cutting tools...

News Feature

X-ray studies conducted at SLAC and in the United Kingdom have resurrected the detailed chemistry of 50-million-year-old leaves from fossils found in the western...

A composite optical and X-ray image (red is copper, green is zinc, blue is nickel) of a 50-million-year-old leaf fossil. Trace metals correlate with the leaf's original biological structures. Also visible are ancient caterpillar feeding tubes.
Press Release

Scientists have discovered a potential way to make graphene – a single layer of carbon atoms with great promise for future electronics – superconducting...

Superconducting Graphene Layers
News Feature

Teams from Stanford, SLAC and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln collaborate to make thin, transparent semiconductors that could become the foundation for cheap, high-performance displays.

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News Feature

A discovery by SLAC researchers into how chemical reactions take place on a platinum catalyst could lead to more efficient, less costly fuel cells.

Photo – SLAC researchers Hernan Sanchez Casalongue (left) and Hirohito Ogasawara
News Feature

Anna Llordes from Berkeley Lab's Molecular Foundry uses SSRL's Beam Line 11-3 for clues about where the smart films her group creates for windows...

Lawrence Berkeley Lab chemist Anna Llordés with a sample of "smart" material for testing at SSRL Beam Line 11-3
News Feature

Scientists working at SLAC, Stanford, Oxford, Berkeley Lab and in Tokyo have discovered a new type of quantum material whose lopsided behavior may lend...

Yulin Chen (Brad Plummer/SLAC)
News Feature

Sean Brennan's decades of X-ray expertise keep pulling him back to SLAC even though he formally retired in 2008. During a recent visit to...

Photo - Sean Brennan is pictured here in 1997, his 20...
News Feature

Researchers hope to hijack a natural process called RNA interference to block the production of proteins linked to disease and treat medical conditions for...

The crystal structure of the human Argonaute2 protein...