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September 1, 2015
News Feature
Global Team Seeks Individual X-ray Portraits of Active Viruses, Bacteria and Cell Components
A major international effort at SLAC is focused on improving our views of intact viruses, living bacteria and other tiny samples using the brightest X-ray light on Earth.
Image - Researchers discuss technical details and monitor the performance of a single particle imaging experiment conducted by a global scientific collaboration in late July and early August at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray laser.
August 17, 2015
Press Release
Scientists Discover Atomic-resolution Details of Brain Signaling
Scientists have revealed never-before-seen details of how our brain sends rapid-fire messages between its cells using SLAC's X-ray laser.
Image - This illustration shows a protein complex at work in brain signaling. Its structure, which contains joined protein complexes known as SNARE and synaptotagmin-1, is shown in the foreground. (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
July 22, 2015
Press Release
Long-sought Discovery Fills in Missing Details of Cell 'Switchboard'
A biomedical breakthrough reveals never-before-seen details of the human body’s cellular switchboard that regulates sensory and hormonal responses.
June 8, 2015
News Feature
President Obama Honors Claudio Pellegrini with Enrico Fermi Award
SLAC visiting scientist and consulting professor Claudio Pellegrini is honored for contributions to free-electron laser science.
Image - Claudio Pellegrini stands in the Linac Coherent Light Source Beam Transport Hall. The accelerated electron beam passes through here to the Undulator Hall, where electron bunches generate X-rays. (Michelle McCarron)
May 27, 2015
News Feature
Spiraling Laser Pulses Could Change the Nature of Graphene
Results from SIMES theorists pave the way for experiments that create and control new forms of matter with light.
Depiction of carbon atoms arranged in a honeycomb pattern to form graphene
May 21, 2015
News Feature
Researchers Watch Protein 'Quake' after Chemical Bond Break
An experiment at SLAC’s X-ray laser provides new insight into the ultrafast motions of a muscle protein in a basic biochemical reaction.
Image - This computerized rendering shows the 3-D structure of myoglobin, an oxygen-carrying protein found in many mammals’ muscles. The jagged green line represents a pulse of laser light that excites an iron atom (red sphere) at the core of the protein.
April 1, 2015
News Feature
Scientists Track Ultrafast Creation of a Catalyst with X-ray Laser
Researchers use X-ray laser at SLAC to track light-triggered chemical reactions in a molecule that serves as a simple model for the conversion of solar energy into fuel.
IMAGE - Artistic rendering of a molecule severed by laser light, with a separate molecule (bottom right) from a solvent rushing in to bond with the just-split molecule. (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
February 12, 2015
Press Release
Scientists Get First Glimpse of a Chemical Bond Being Born
Scientists have used an X-ray laser at SLAC to get the first glimpse of the transition state where two atoms begin to form a weak bond on the way to becoming a molecule.
Illustration of a transition state in a chemical reaction.
February 11, 2015
Press Release
Scientists Take First X-ray Portraits of Living Bacteria at the LCLS
Researchers working at SLAC have captured the first X-ray portraits of living bacteria.
Image - This photo illustration shows a pond containing a visible bloom of cyanobacteria, with an artistic rendering of an individual cell, left, and a reconstructed image of a single cell based on data from an experiment at SLAC's LCLS X-ray laser.
February 2, 2015
News Feature
5 Ways to Put Tiny Targets in Front of an X-ray Laser
Scientists have assembled an exotic toolbox for experiments that tap into the brightest X-rays on the planet.
Image - This illustration shows a cutaway view of a type of sample system used at the Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray laser that jets samples in a superthin liquid or gel stream into its X-ray pulses. This system is known as a gas dynamic virtual nozzle

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