X-ray Science
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A SLAC Legend Gives the Lab His Lifetime Collection of Precious Foils
The foils, each made from a single chemical element, are used to calibrate X-ray equipment at SLAC’s SSRL synchrotron, and were donated by long-time user, Farrel Lytle.
Scientists Use Machine Learning to Speed Discovery of Metallic Glass
SLAC and its collaborators are transforming the way new materials are discovered. In a new report, they combine artificial intelligence and accelerated experiments to discover potential alternatives to steel in a fraction of the time.
SLAC Produces First Electron Beam with Superconducting Electron Gun
The new technology could allow next-generation instruments to explore the atomic world in ever more detail.
Tick, Tock on the ‘Attoclock’: Tracking X-Ray Laser Pulses at Record Speeds
When it comes to making molecular movies, producing the world’s fastest X-ray pulses is only half the battle. A new technique reveals details about the timing and energy of pulses that are less than a millionth of a billionth of a second long, which can be used to probe nature’s processes at this amazingly fast attosecond timescale.
Q&A: Bruce Gates on the Molecules That Can Drive Chemical Reactions
The professor at University of California, Davis, describes his innovative work at SLAC’s synchrotron to search for simple, selective catalysts.
Hidden Medical Text Read for the First Time in a Thousand Years
With X-ray imaging at SLAC’s synchrotron, scientists uncovered a 6th century translation of a book by the Greek-Roman doctor Galen. The words had been scraped off the parchment manuscript and written over with hymns in the 11th century.
With Laser Light, Scientists Create First X-Ray Holographic Images of Viruses
Using SLAC’s X-ray laser, researchers have made detailed 3-D images of nanoscale biology, with future applications in the study of air pollution, combustion and catalytic processes.
First Nanoscale Look at How Lithium Ions Navigate a Molecular Maze to Reach Battery Electrode
Streamlining their journey through the electrolyte could help lithium-ion batteries charge faster.
In a First, Tiny Diamond Anvils Trigger Chemical Reactions by Squeezing
Experiments with 'molecular anvils' mark an important advance for mechanochemistry, which has the potential to make chemistry greener and more precise.
Magnetic Trick Triples the Power of SLAC’s X-Ray Laser
The new technique will allow researchers to observe ultrafast chemical processes previously undetectable at the atomic scale.
