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Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS)

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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From 'Hollow' Atoms to Structures Inside Living Cells, SLAC's Laser Continues to Explore Science at the Extremes

This illustration shows how the first experiment at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray laser stripped away electrons from neon atoms. (SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

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Zhirong Huang, Bill Fawley and Erik Hemsing Honored at Annual Free-electron Laser Conference

Image - From left, SLAC's Erik Hemsing, Zhirong Huang and William Fawley accept awards during the 36th International Free Electron Laser Conference in Basel, Switzerland. At right is SLAC's Paul Emma, who served as this year's FEL Prize committee chairman

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Experiment Shows Potential of X-ray Laser to Study Complex, Poorly Understood Materials

Illustration of a polystrene molecular chain and Styrofoam cups, which are made of polystyrene.

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Experiment at SLAC's X-ray Laser Opens Door to Exploring Cell Interiors

Image - These micrograph images show rod-shaped bacterial cells suspended in pure water. The dark rectangular shapes inside the cells correspond to naturally occurring crystals within the cells.

News Release

SLAC Experiment Reveals Mysterious Order in Liquid Helium

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Laser-timing Tool Works at the Speed of Electrons

Image - An illustration of the setup used to test an "attosecond" timing tool at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray laser. The dashed line represents the arrival time of the X-ray laser.

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Photon science, a spin-off of particle physics, has returned to its roots for help developing better, faster detectors.

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SLAC-invented Etching Process Builds Custom Nanostructures for X-ray Optics

Image - This colorized scanning electron microscope image shows a top-down view of a spiral zone plate, an X-ray optical device, created using a chemical etching technique developed at SLAC. (Chieh Chang, Anne Sakdinawat)

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SLAC Experiment Provides New Insight About How Electrons Move Across Molecules

Researchers used SLAC's LCLS X-ray laser to stimulate and measure the electron-transfer process inside a severed methyl iodide molecule.

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Grad Students and Postdocs Get a Crash Course in Using X-ray Lasers

Archana Raja, a graduate student at Columbia University, explains her group’s poster presentation at SLAC’s Ultrafast X-ray Summer Seminar.

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Exploding Soccer Ball-shaped Molecules Will Help Biological Studies

Image - Buckyballs, molecules composed of 60 carbon atoms, bust apart as they are struck by intense X-ray pulses at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source. (Greg Stewart/SLAC)

News Release

SLAC Research Reveals Rapid DNA Changes that Act as Molecular Sunscreen

Illustration showing a thymine molecule, DNA helix and the sun.