LCLS Soft X-ray Materials Science (SXR)

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.

Scientists Use X-rays to Look at How DNA Protects Itself from UV Light

DNA’s molecular building blocks absorb ultraviolet light so strongly that sunlight should deactivate them – yet it doesn’t. A new SLAC study reveals details of a “relaxation response” that protects these molecules and the genetic information they encode.

Scientists Capture Ultrafast Snapshots of Light-driven Superconductivity

A new study, based on an experiment at SLAC's X-ray laser, pins down a major factor behind the appearance of superconductivity—the ability to conduct electricity with 100 percent efficiency—in a promising copper-oxide material.

X-ray Laser Sheds New Light on Quest for Faster Data Storage

An experiment at SLAC’s X-ray laser has revealed the first atomic-scale details of a new technique that could point the way to faster data storage in smartphones, laptops and other devices.

Speed Limit Set for Ultrafast Electrical Switch

Researchers from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have clocked the fastest-possible electrical switching in magnetite, a naturally magnetic mineral. Their results could drive innovations in the tiny transistors that control the flow of electricity across silicon chips, enabling faster, more powerful computing devices.

Former SLAC Intern is Youngest to Lead LCLS Experiment

Stephanie Mack, 20, read and reread the email in disbelief. After spending time during the past two summers in a science internship program at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, she was heading back.

This time she would be at the helm of the world's most powerful X-ray laser, leading an international collaboration as the principal investigator in an experiment exploring how to precisely control the motion of electrons in specially prepared samples of a mineral called manganite.

Breakthrough Research Shows Chemical Reaction in Real Time

The ultrafast, ultrabright X-ray pulses of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) have enabled unprecedented views of a catalyst in action, an important step in the effort to develop cleaner and more efficient energy sources.

Study Provides Recipe for 'Supercharging' Atoms with X-ray Laser

Menlo Park, Calif. — Researchers using the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have found a way to strip most of the electrons from xenon atoms, creating a “supercharged,” strongly positive state at energies previously thought too low.

Shaken, Not Heated: the Ideal Recipe for Manipulating Magnetism

Scientists have found a way to distort the atomic arrangement and change the magnetic properties of an important class of electronic materials with ultra-short pulses of terahertz (mid-infrared) laser light without heating the material up. While the achievement is currently of purely scientific interest, the researchers say this new approach control could ultimately lead to extremely fast, low-energy, non-volatile computer memory chips or data-switching devices.