SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory | Bold People. Visionary Science. Real Impact.

SLAC’s campus at sunset looking southeast. The Stanford Dish and Interstate 280 in the distance.

Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

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

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

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Aerial view of SSRL (Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource) with SLAC’s campus in the background.

Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

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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

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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

Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) at sunset — SLAC’s Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) provides extremely bright X-rays that scientists use in a wide range of research to probe matter on the scale of atoms and molecules. *(Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)*

The linac with Interstate 280 bridge and Stanford University in the distance. — The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), the world’s first hard X-ray free-electron laser, allows researchers to make stop-action movies of chemistry in action and explore proteins for new pharmaceuticals. *(Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)*

FACET-II provides high-energy electron beams for researching revolutionary particle accelerator technologies that could make future accelerators 100 to 1,000 times smaller and a lot more capable. *(Peter Ginter/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)*

The Stanford-SLAC cryo-EM facility gives scientists unprecedented views of the inner workings of the cell and of technologies like batteries and solar cells. — The Stanford-SLAC Cryo-EM center gives scientists unprecedented views of the inner workings of the cell and of technologies like batteries and solar cells. *(Andy Freeberg/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)*

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.

Members of the MEC-Upgrade Project tri-lab collaboration on the roof patio of LCLS. — Members of the MEC Upgrade Project tri-lab collaboration on the roof patio of LCLS. *(Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)*

SLAC employees participated in the first campus pride parade, 2022. — SLAC employees participated in the first onsite Pride Parade on June 29, 2022. *(Jacqueline Ramseyer Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)*

Anna Rosa Ziefuss, Chris Crissman, Dr. Siegfried Glenzer, Griffin Glenn, and Zhijiang Chen at LCLS's laser lab. — Anna Rosa Ziefuss, Chris Crissman, Dr. Siegfried Glenzer, Griffin Glenn, and Zhijiang Chen at the HEDS (High Energy Density Science) Sector 10 Laser Lab. *(Jacqueline Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)*

Jeney Wierman of SLAC’s Structural Molecular Biology team — Jeney Wierman stands in the control room of SSRL. She, along with other members of the Structural Molecular Biology team, supports three beamlines, 12-1, 12-2 and 9-2, which are dedicated to helping research from all over the world, creating 3D atomic-resolution shapes of various SARS-CoV-2 related proteins. *(Linda McCulloch/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)*

The TMO Control Room 1.1 located in the Near Experimental Hall at LCLS — From left, Project Scientist Dr. Razib Obaid, Staff Scientist Ming-Fu Lin, Associate Scientist Taran Driver and Doctoral Student Erik Isele work in the TMO Control Room 1.1, located in the Near Experimental Hall at LCLS. *(Jacqueline Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)*

Work with us Life at SLAC

LATEST UPDATES

SLAC news center

Press release

The results challenge a 70-year-old theory of how proteins fold in our cells and have profound implications for treating diseases linked to protein misfolding.

An illustration combines two images. At left is a large piece of scientific equipment, in pink and purple tones, with cables running between its parts. At right, a pom-pom like object with curly tangles in purple and blue shades and yellow tangles at center, reminiscent of a zinnia blossom.

News Feature

Researchers discover that electrons play a surprising role in heat transfer between layers of semiconductors, with implications for next-generation electronic devices.

News Feature

Chi-Chang Kao, a noted X-ray scientist and director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, recently announced that he will step...

A man in a blue shirt and gray suit poses in front of a large scientific apparatus.

News Feature

A polymer-based electrolyte makes for batteries that keep working – and don’t catch fire – when heated to over 140 degrees F.

A white disc of battery material catches fire.

News Feature

Researchers discover that electrons play a surprising role in heat transfer between layers of semiconductors, with implications for next-generation electronic devices.

News Feature

Chi-Chang Kao, a noted X-ray scientist and director of the U.S. Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, recently announced that he will step...

News Feature

A polymer-based electrolyte makes for batteries that keep working – and don’t catch fire – when heated to over 140 degrees F.

News Feature

Once built, the system could produce fast X-ray pulses ten times more powerful than ever before.

illustration of an electron beam traveling through a niobium cavity – a key component of SLAC’s future LCLS-II X-ray laser.

News Feature

To invent a new tool for studying how chemicals react at interfaces, researchers shoot tiny jets of oil and water at each other and...

Rainbow colors in a sheet of layered liquids

News Feature

LSST Camera images provide the inspiration for artist Lennart Lahuis’s “Astromelancholia.”

News archive Media mentions Media resources

SLAC EVENTS

What’s happening

In Progress Event

Presented by Peter D. Dahlberg. Viewing cellular machinery at the nanoscale.

Jan 26

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 Lab Director