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Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) RSS feed

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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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)
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Agostino Marinelli, a postdoctoral researcher in the Accelerator Directorate, has been named the 2014 recipient of the Frank Sacherer Prize from the European Physical...

SLAC accelerator physicist Agostino Marinelli in the LCLS Undulator Hall
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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
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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.
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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
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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)
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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.
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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)
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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).
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Growing up in China shortly after the Cultural Revolution, Zhirong Huang may have been the only middle-school child in Beijing who knew anything about...

Zhirong Huang, associate professor of physics
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A 2-ton instrument the size of a compact car, now available at SLAC's X-ray laser, makes it possible to capture more detailed images of...

Photo - A view of the LAMP instrument at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray laser. (SLAC)
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A study with SLAC's X-ray laser is a key step toward producing movies that show how a single molecule changes during a chemical reaction

Image - Scientists at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source used an optical laser to orient molecules along a common axis, like a compass needle to a magnet, and then used X-ray laser pulses to explore structural details. (koocbor/Flickr: http://www.flickr.c