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X-ray studies at SLAC facilities help scientists understand the fundamental workings of nature by probing matter in atomic detail.

atoms forming a tentative bond

News Feature

Rolls-Royce researchers came to SLAC earlier this month as part of a team testing titanium and its alloys, such as those used in engine...

Photo - Despina Milathianaki, a staff scientist at SLAC's LCLS, holds a series of titanium alloy samples prepared for an experiment. The experiment was designed to study the laser-shocked state of the materials. (Fabricio Sousa/SLAC)
News Feature

SLAC's Siegfried Glenzer has been selected to receive an Ernest Orlando Lawrence Award, presented by the U.S. Secretary of Energy to honor scientists across...

Photo - Siegfried Glenzer
News Feature

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...

Image - In this illustration, stripes of charge run in perpendicular "ripples" between the copper-oxide layers of a material (top). When a mid-infrared laser pulse strikes the material, it "melts" these ripples and induces superconductivity.
News Feature

A new theory and computer simulation by SLAC and Stanford researchers rule out high-energy magnetic interactions as a major factor in making copper oxide...

Photo - Researchers at SLAC
News Feature

Five years ago, the brightest source of X-rays on the planet lit up at SLAC. The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray laser's scientific...

Image - Some of the LCLS team members stand by the newly installed undulators in this 2009 photo. From right: Mike Zurawel, Geoff Pile from Argonne National Laboratory, Paul Emma, Dave Schultz, Heinz-Dieter Nuhn and Don Schafer. (Brad Plummer)
News Feature

Windows that darken to filter out sunlight in response to electric current, function much like batteries. Now, X-ray studies at SLAC provide a crystal-clear...

lithium ions interact with an ultrathin sheet of nickel oxide
News Feature

SLAC researchers have found a new way to transform graphite into diamond. The approach may have implications for industrial applications ranging from cutting tools...

News Feature

X-ray studies conducted at SLAC and in the United Kingdom have resurrected the detailed chemistry of 50-million-year-old leaves from fossils found in the western...

A composite optical and X-ray image (red is copper, green is zinc, blue is nickel) of a 50-million-year-old leaf fossil. Trace metals correlate with the leaf's original biological structures. Also visible are ancient caterpillar feeding tubes.
Press Release

Scientists have discovered a potential way to make graphene – a single layer of carbon atoms with great promise for future electronics – superconducting...

Superconducting Graphene Layers
News Feature

A new tool for analyzing mountains of data from SLAC’s Linac Coherent Lightsource (LCLS) X-ray laser can produce high-quality images of important proteins using...

Photo - Nicholas Sauter, middle, points to a monitor during an experiment this month at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray laser.
News Feature

A new system at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory's X-ray laser narrows a rainbow spectrum of X-ray colors to a more intense band of light...

Photo - A view of the soft X-ray self-seeding system during installation in the Undulator Hall at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray laser. (Brad Plummer/SLAC)
News Feature

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...

Image - A laser-driven electric pulse excites a magnetic response in a multiferroic material that is measured by SLAC's X-ray laser pulse (blue).