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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)

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A new study shows how soccer ball-shaped molecules burst more slowly than expected when blasted with an X-ray laser beam.

Buckyballs
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Early career award recognizes Mitrano’s work in ultrafast X-ray scattering.

Matteo Mitrano
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The studies could lead to a new understanding of how high-temperature superconductors operate.

fluctuating charge stripes
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The SLAC scientists will each receive $2.5 million for their research on fusion energy and advanced radiofrequency technology.

Gleason-Gamzina-ECA2019
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The technique can be used to study molecular phenomena and the forming and breaking of chemical bonds.

vibrating molecules
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Combined with the lab’s LCLS X-ray laser, it’ll provide unprecedented atomic views of some of nature’s speediest processes.

Alex Reid, ultrafast electron diffraction (UED)
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Particle accelerators are some of the most complicated machines in science.

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Physicist Tor Raubenheimer explores the world by climbing rocks and designing particle accelerators.

Photo: Tor Raubenheimer, accelerator physicist
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Experiments at SLAC’s X-ray laser reveal in atomic detail how two distinct liquid phases in these materials enable fast switching between glassy and crystalline...

Diagram of material switching between glassy and crystalline states
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Its electron beams will drive the generation of up to a million ultrabright X-ray flashes per second.

LCLS-II first electron beam
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SLAC’s ‘electron camera’ films rapidly melting tungsten and reveals atomic-level material behavior that could impact the design of future reactors.

Tungsten melting
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Researchers produced an underwater sound with an intensity that eclipses that of a rocket launch while investigating what happens when they blast tiny jets...

Underwater sound