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Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) RSS feed

The Linac Coherent Light Source at SLAC, the world’s first hard X-ray free-electron laser, takes X-ray snapshots of atoms and molecules at work, revealing fundamental processes in materials, technology and living things.

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Rooftop view of Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS)

News Feature

X-rays show details of an insect virus’s crystalline cocoon with sub-nanometer resolution.

News Feature

After 50 Years of Operation, One-third of the Lab’s Historic Linear Accelerator Is Extracted to Build Powerful New X-Ray Laser

photo - the empty accelerator tunnel
Press Release

New X-ray methods have captured the highest resolution room-temperature images of photosystem II.

Press Release

Scientists used SLAC's LCLS X-ray laser to make the first snapshots of a chemical interaction between two biomolecules. It changes the shape of millions...

Illustration depicting a chemical interaction as synchronized swimmers.
News Feature

The team determined the 3-D structure of a biomolecule by tagging it with selenium atoms and taking hundreds of thousands of images.

News Feature

Two recently funded computing projects work toward developing cutting-edge scientific applications for future exascale supercomputers that can perform at least a billion billion computing...

News Feature

For the first time, scientists at SLAC’s X-ray laser have created bright, three-colored X-ray pulses.

News Feature

The event drew more than 400 participants, with workshops and presentations focusing on collaborations and new technology at SLAC’s light sources.

News Feature

More than 40 interns spent 10 weeks this summer helping SLAC researchers advance the use of the Linac Coherent Light Source.

LCLS director Mike Dunne with intern Temuulen Batenkh​
Press Release

SLAC’s X-ray laser provides clues to engineering a new protein to kill mosquitos that carry dengue and Zika.

Scientists shed light on the three-dimensional structure of BinAB and its mode of action.
News Feature

Understanding how a material’s electrons interact with vibrations of its nuclear lattice could help design and control novel materials, from solar cells to high-temperature...

Press Release

Just as Schroedinger's Cat is both alive and dead, an atom or molecule can be in two different states at once. Now scientists have...

Illustration of a molecule splitting into two Schroedinger's Cat states