Aerial view of SSRL (Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource) with SLAC’s campus in the background. (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
Aerial view of SLAC’s  campus with the LINAC in the foreground leading into the campus. The interstate 280 passes over the LINAC. Stanford campus and Hoover tower can be seen in the distance. (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
SLAC’s campus at sunset looking southeast. The Stanford Dish and Interstate 280 in the distance. (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

Bold People
Visionary Science
Real Impact

We explore how the universe works at the biggest, smallest and fastest scales and invent powerful tools used by scientists around the globe. Our research helps solve real-world problems and advances the interests of the nation.

Our story Our people

Visionary Science

Explore our frontier research

X-ray & ultrafast science

Revealing nature’s fastest processes with X-rays, lasers and electrons

Physics of the universe

Studying the particles and forces that knit the cosmos together
 

Advanced accelerators

Building smaller, faster, more powerful accelerators for all
 

Science of life

Understanding the machinery of life at its most basic level
 

New technologies

Inventing new tools for science and society
 

Energy sciences

Finding clean, sustainable solutions for the world’s energy challenges

WHERE RESEARCH HAPPENS

Facilities & centers

At our large-scale facilities and specialized centers, scientists take advantage of powerful tools and unique expertise and collaborate with each other across a wide range of disciplines. Working together is what makes science tick.

Scientific facilities Joint institutes & centers

MEET OUR TEAMS

SLAC people

To achieve our ambitious goals and keep SLAC a great place to work, the lab needs a creative, diverse and united workforce – people with a wide variety of experiences, ideas, skills and backgrounds.

LATEST UPDATES

SLAC news center

News Feature

While atoms are known to wiggle very fast, dopants added to a cuprate superconductor can also cause atoms to meander very slowly. A SLAC study shows this process, called atomic relaxation, offers a new way to explore quantum states in these puzzling materials.

Light blue wavy lines on a maroon red background.
News Feature

A new center brings astrophysics, data science, and AI together to answer some of the universe’s biggest questions.

A rendering of a galaxy.
News Feature

AI is playing a key role in helping SLAC researchers find new galaxies and tiny neutrinos, and discover new drugs.

Diffraction pattern
News Feature

SLAC partners with five national labs and eight universities seeking to increase the supply diversity of EV batteries and relieve supply chain concerns.

SLAC-Stanford Battery Center
News Feature

A new center brings astrophysics, data science, and AI together to answer some of the universe’s biggest questions.

A rendering of a galaxy.
News Feature

AI is playing a key role in helping SLAC researchers find new galaxies and tiny neutrinos, and discover new drugs.

Diffraction pattern
News Feature

SLAC partners with five national labs and eight universities seeking to increase the supply diversity of EV batteries and relieve supply chain concerns.

SLAC-Stanford Battery Center
News Feature

In 1974, the independent discovery of the J/psi particle at SLAC and Brookhaven National Laboratory rocked the physics world, and entire textbooks had to...

50th anniversary of the J/psi discovery
News Feature

Researchers across the lab are developing AI tools to harness data and particle beams in real time and make molecular movies, speeding up the...

Graphic of AI in several science areas
News Brief

SLAC’s SSRL helps pin down key players in the microbial production of methylmercury, a poison that can accumulate in fish.

A school of fish.
SLAC EVENTS

What’s happening

In Progress Event
Register to watch in person in the  Kavli Auditorium,  or watch the lecture live on our YouTube page.  In particle physics, we search for...
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Dec 05

SLAC is a vibrant community of diverse perspectives and expertise, all working together to solve some of the most pressing challenges of our times."

John Sarrao Lab Director Headshot of John Sarrao
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Video
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is a Department of Energy national lab run by Stanford in the heart of Silicon Valley. We invent scientific tools to explore the universe at its biggest, its smallest and its fastest. (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
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SLAC Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) accelerator tunnel.
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