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SLAC is the world’s leading center for developing “ultrafast” X-ray, laser and electron beams that allow us to see atoms and molecules moving in just millionths of a billionth of a second. We can even create stop-action movies of these tiny events.

DOE explains...Ultrafast science

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)

News Brief

The technique they used will offer insight into many different chemical reactions.

hydroxyl radical
Press Release

Marking the beginning of the LCLS-II era, the first phase of the major upgrade comes online.

New undulator hall
News Feature

New research could offer insights into the formation of planets like Earth and inform the design of more resilient materials.

Iron impact header
News Feature

A proposed device could expand the reach of X-ray lasers, opening new experimental avenues in biology, chemistry, materials science and physics.

x-ray laser oscillator
News Feature

The prestigious awards provide at least $2.5 million over five years in support of their work in understanding photochemical reactions and improving accelerator beams.

SLAC staff scientists Amy Cordones-Hahn and Brendan O'Shea
News Feature

It could offer insights into the evolution of planetary systems and guide scientists hoping to harness nuclear fusion as a new source of energy.

Scattered photons
News Feature

Revealing both sides of the story in a single experiment has been a grand scientific challenge.

nuclear and electronic
News Feature

Understanding nature’s process could inform the next generation of artificial photosynthetic systems that produce clean and renewable energy from sunlight and water.

How electrons flow in the oxygen-evolving complex of Photosystem II.
News Feature

Learning how liquid silicates behave at these extreme temperatures and pressures has been a longstanding challenge in the geosciences.

atomic arrangements of liquid silicates at the extreme conditions found in the core-mantle boundary.
News Feature

Light-driven reactions are at the heart of human vision, photosynthesis and solar power generation. Seeing the very first step opens the door to observing...

Illustration showing electron orbitals ballooning in response to light
News Feature

New research shows that when a bunch of electrons zooms through the middle of a ring-shaped laser beam, the bunch can wind up with...

donut laser
News Feature

Researchers investigate how much damage spreads through molecules struck by a pulse from LCLS.

Two color mode