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Ultrafast science RSS feed

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 Feature

This new technology could enable future insights into chemical and biological processes that occur in solution, such as vision, catalysis and photosynthesis.

UED liquid
News Feature

An LCLS imaging technique reveals how a mosquito-borne bacterium deploys a toxin to kill mosquito larvae. Scientists hope to harness it to fight disease.

A photograph of mosquito larvae.
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Hitting molecules with two photons of light at once set off unexpected processes that were captured in detail with SLAC’s X-ray laser. Scientists say...

Closeup image of molecular movie frames
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Researchers have squeezed a high-energy electron beam into tight bundles using terahertz radiation, a promising advance in watching the ultrafast world of atoms unfold.

SLAC’s Emma Snively and Mohamed Othman at the lab’s high-speed “electron camera."
News Feature

Siqi Li develops connections with people and concepts while working on new technologies for accelerators.

Siqi Li headshot
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What they learned could lead to a better understanding of how ionizing radiation can damage material systems, including cells.

Radiolysis
Press Release

Called XLEAP, the new method will provide sharp views of electrons in chemical processes that take place in billionths of a billionth of a...

XLEAP illustration.
News Feature

A better understanding of ‘checkpoint proteins,’ which protect cancer cells against immune system strikes, could lead to the development of more effective drugs.

VISTA
News Feature

Chemist Ben Ofori-Okai investigates what happens to matter under extreme conditions at microscopic scales to better understand its behavior at massive scales, such as...

Ben Ofori-Okai
News Feature

Molecular movie-making is both an art and a science; the results let us watch how nature works on the smallest scales.

Molecular movie frames for the light-triggered transition of the ring-shaped 1,3-CHD molecule.
News Feature

The annual conference for scientists who conduct research at SLAC’s light sources engaged about 350 researchers in talks, workshops and discussions.

Users meeting
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She is recognized for two decades of innovation and excellence at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource.

Aina Cohen