A drone captures a sweeping view of the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory at sunset in 2024, perched atop Cerro Pachón in Chile. The observatory is preparing to begin a 10-year survey of the southern sky, taking a new image every 30 seconds and collecting around 2,000 images every three nights. This ambitious effort will create an unprecedented 3D time-lapse of the universe. (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

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Sunrise timelapse of SSRL (Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource) (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

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Aerial view of SLAC’s  campus. Stanford campus and Hoover tower can be seen in the distance. (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

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SLAC’s campus looking south with Interstate 280 in the distance. (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

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The undulator hall, where electrons pass through precisely engineered magnetic arrays to generate soft and hard X-ray laser light. (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

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LATEST UPDATES

SLAC news center

News Release

Q-NEXT quantum center renewed for five years

SLAC and Stanford partner with Argonne National Laboratory and others toward a quantum-interconnected world.

A person in a bunny suit examines a wafer
News Release

LZ sets a world’s best in the hunt for galactic dark matter and gets a new look at neutrinos from the sun’s core

In the largest dataset ever collected by a dark matter detector, LUX-ZEPLIN's latest results provide the strongest constraints on low-mass WIMPs and detect boron-8...

December 8, 2025  ·  9 min read
Overhead view looking down into a white structure with dozens of orange circular components arranged radially.
News Brief
Via Innovative Genomics Institute

New method uncovers how viruses evade immune responses — and how we might fight back

Researchers with the Doudna group used SSRL to uncover how viruses use special enzymes to evade a host's defenses. 

December 1, 2025
A view of SLAC’s Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL), looking west at sunset.
Feature

The ideal fusion fuel target doesn’t exist – yet. Researchers at SLAC are trying to change that.

Researchers at SLAC are developing experimental techniques to evaluate new candidates for inertial fusion energy targets. 

November 26, 2025  ·  7 min read
a graphic in the style of graphic novel depicts four lasers converging on a spherical target, which represents an inertial fusion energy reaction
News Release

LZ sets a world’s best in the hunt for galactic dark matter and gets a new look at neutrinos from the sun’s core

In the largest dataset ever collected by a dark matter detector, LUX-ZEPLIN's latest results provide the strongest constraints on low-mass WIMPs and detect boron-8...

December 8, 2025  ·  9 min read
Overhead view looking down into a white structure with dozens of orange circular components arranged radially.
News Brief
Via Innovative Genomics Institute

New method uncovers how viruses evade immune responses — and how we might fight back

Researchers with the Doudna group used SSRL to uncover how viruses use special enzymes to evade a host's defenses. 

December 1, 2025
A view of SLAC’s Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL), looking west at sunset.
Feature

The ideal fusion fuel target doesn’t exist – yet. Researchers at SLAC are trying to change that.

Researchers at SLAC are developing experimental techniques to evaluate new candidates for inertial fusion energy targets. 

November 26, 2025  ·  7 min read
a graphic in the style of graphic novel depicts four lasers converging on a spherical target, which represents an inertial fusion energy reaction
Feature

SLAC researchers wrangle particle beams with digital doppelgängers

The SLAC team is developing digital twins – powered by AI and high-performance computing – to help quickly shape high-quality particle beams for the...

November 25, 2025  ·  6 min read
hand pointing to digital twin
News Brief
Via Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics

Observing quantum footballs blown up by laser kicks

Laser-driven break up of "buckyballs" is recorded in real-time by X-ray imaging at LCLS. 

November 21, 2025
Buckyballs
News Brief

Imaging of tiny particles at SLAC’s X-ray laser just got faster

A new machine learning algorithm rapidly reconstructs 3D images from X-ray data. 

November 20, 2025  ·  4 min read
Schematic of a machine learning algorithm that reconstructs 3D images from X-ray data
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SLAC hosts a range of exciting events to raise awareness, inform, educate and connect with sitewide staff, the Stanford and local communities and the general public.

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Behind the scenes

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

Two people looking over at equipment in the TMO Hutch.
SLAC is a world leader in X-ray and ultrafast science, offering researchers from all over the world access to our scientific facilities.  (Jacqueline Ramseyer Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
A view of SLAC’s Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL), looking west at sunset.
A view of SLAC’s Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL), looking west at sunset. (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
SLAC team taking a group selfie with the Legacy Survey of Space & Time (LSST) Camera.
SLAC built the world's largest camera for astrophysics for the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile – one of many complex projects we've led to enable major advances in science. (Jacqueline Ramseyer Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
Person gesturing to a research poster while explaining it to someone.
SLAC and Stanford researchers share their latest results at a poster session in SLAC's Science and User Support Building. (Jacqueline Ramseyer Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
Staff members at SLAC having lunch on the main quad outside the Science and User Support Building (SUSB), with clear blue skies overhead.
SLAC staff enjoy our annual holiday lunch on the Main Quad, with the Science and User Support Building (SUSB) in the background. (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
Two individuals with monitors & headphones engaged in conversation at the SLAC Shared Science Data Facility (S3DF).
The SLAC Shared Science Data Facility (S3DF) is a computing hub for data-rich science projects at SLAC and Stanford.  (Jim Gensheimer/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

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
About SLAC video
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. (01:30min) (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
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SLAC Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) accelerator tunnel.
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Physicist checking experimental equipment at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL).
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Scientist Dorian Bohler in control room

For industry partners

SLAC/Stanford Professor Zhi-Xun Shen and SLAC staff scientist Patrick Kirchmann

For media

atoms forming a tentative bond

For job seekers

Our first interns in the inaugural mechanical engineering internship program at SLAC, 2019

For SLAC staff

Using X-rays from SSRL, Chuntian Cao maps silicon as it cycles within a battery

For students & educators

SLAC welcomed the Science in the City summer camp in July, 2022 where students aged 10-12 from underrepresented groups did experiments and presented their work at the end of the week.