SLAC’s campus at sunset looking southeast. The Stanford Dish and Interstate 280 in the distance. (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

Video details

SLAC’s research yard in the foreground, with the LINAC stretching 2 miles to the west, and SLAC’s campus on the right. (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

Video details

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)

Video details

Aerial view of SSRL (Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource) with SLAC’s campus in the background. (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

Video details

View of SLAC’s Quad with 600+ employees gathering for a group photo with the Science and User Support Building (left) and Arillaga Science Center (right) in the background (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

Video details

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

Press release

It transforms the ability of scientists to explore atomic-scale, ultrafast phenomena that are key to a broad range of applications, from quantum materials to clean energy technologies and medicine.

LCLS-II first light
News Feature

Powerful X-rays generated at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory help researchers shed new light on feather evolution.

This figure shows how protein compositions in feathers change over time and temperature.
News Brief

SSRL's X-ray tools reveal that alcohol groups on a nanodiamond's surface allow one of the world's most valuable materials to bond with one of...

Purple layers surround angular red chunks. These are struck by gold rays, which release white spheres from the purple and red objects.
News Feature

Sebek’s extraordinary career at SSRL includes helping build the facility’s original electron injector back in the 1980s and working on almost all of its...

This photograph shows 2023 Lytle award winner Jim Sebek at work on SSRL's electrical systems.
News Feature

Powerful X-rays generated at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory help researchers shed new light on feather evolution.

This figure shows how protein compositions in feathers change over time and temperature.
News Brief

SSRL's X-ray tools reveal that alcohol groups on a nanodiamond's surface allow one of the world's most valuable materials to bond with one of...

Purple layers surround angular red chunks. These are struck by gold rays, which release white spheres from the purple and red objects.
News Feature

Sebek’s extraordinary career at SSRL includes helping build the facility’s original electron injector back in the 1980s and working on almost all of its...

This photograph shows 2023 Lytle award winner Jim Sebek at work on SSRL's electrical systems.
News Feature

Analyzing X-ray movies with computer vision reveals how nanoparticles in a lithium-ion battery electrode work.

Illustration of battery electrode nanoparticles being imaged by X-rays
News Feature

To understand why scientists are excited about detecting a new background, just look to the history of studies of the CMB.

Illustration of galaxies in a Petri dish
News Feature

James’ research on chronic and acute mercury exposure challenges conventional views

Ashley James sits on a park bench.
SLAC EVENTS

What’s happening

Upcoming Event
Seminars and conferences

2023 SSRL/LCLS Users’ Meeting

This annual meeting is a unique opportunity to gather together the light source community in a single scientific event that includes numerous presentations in...

UED transition state
Sep 24–29

SLAC has a talented and dedicated staff with an extremely bright future, one that will help solve some of the greatest scientific challenges facing the world today.”

Chi-Chang Kao Former Lab Director Chi-Chang Kao, Former SLAC Lab Director.
About SLAC video still frame
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)
DIG DEEPER

Explore SLAC

PUBLIC TOURS

Take a tour of SLAC

SLAC Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) accelerator tunnel.
MEDIA RESOURCES

Images, videos & more

Ghost imaging illustration