Ultrafast science

To break, or not to break: An unprecedented atomic movie captures the moment when molecules decide how to respond to light.

SLAC’s high-speed ‘electron camera’ shows for the first time the coexistence of solid and liquid in laser-heated gold, providing new clues for designing materials that can withstand extreme conditions.

Tais Gorkhover, Michael Kagan, Kazuhiro Terao and Joshua Turner will each receive $2.5 million for research that studies fundamental particles, nanoscale objects, quantum materials and machine learning.

The X-ray laser movie shows what happens when light hits retinal, a key part of vision in animals and photosynthesis in microbes. The action takes place in a trillionth of an eye blink.

The researchers observed how an enzyme from drug-resistant tuberculosis bacteria damages an antibiotic molecule. The new technique provides a powerful tool to examine changes in biological molecules as they happen.

Experiments at SLAC heated water from room temperature to 100,000 degrees Celsius in less than a millionth of a millionth of a second, producing an exotic state of water that could shed light on Earth’s most important liquid.

A team including SLAC researchers has measured the intricate interactions between atomic nuclei and electrons that are key to understanding intriguing materials properties, such as high-temperature superconductivity.

The new technology could allow next-generation instruments to explore the atomic world in ever more detail.

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...