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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)

Animation

Photosystem II baseball

In photosystem II, the water-splitting center cycles through four stable states

May 1, 2023
Photosystem II baseball
News Feature

Yijing Huang wins 2022 LCLS Young Investigator Award for work on controlling unique structures of semiconductors

The award celebrates Huang’s achievements studying atom-scale physics with fast X-ray pulses.

October 31, 2022  ·  2 min read
Yijing Huang at Stanford University
Illustration

Electron transfer in a molecular complex

When light drives electron transfer in a molecular complex, the surrounding solvent molecules also rapidly move.
October 11, 2022
When light drives electron transfer in a molecular complex, the surrounding solvent molecules also rapidly move.
Illustration

Perovskites

Perovskites’ unusual response to light could explain the high efficiency of these next-generation solar cell materials.
October 11, 2022
Perovskites’ unusual response to light could explain the high efficiency of these next-generation solar cell materials.
Illustration

XLEAP illustration

Scientists use a series of magnets to transform an electron bunch into a narrow current spike which then produces a very intense attosecond X-ray...

September 27, 2022
XLEAP illustration
Illustration

Microscopic movies of liquids

Researchers made the first microscopic movies of liquids getting vaporized by SLAC’s X-ray free-electron laser LCLS.

September 22, 2022
First microscopic movies of liquids getting vaporized by SLAC’s X-ray free-electron laser LCLS.
Press Release

‘Diamond rain’ on giant icy planets could be more common than previously thought

Studying a material that even more closely resembles the composition of ice giants, researchers found that oxygen boosts the formation of diamond rain.

September 2, 2022  ·  6 min read
Diamond rain formation
News Feature

Helium’s chilling journey to cool a particle accelerator

En route to record-breaking X-rays, SLAC’s Cryogenic team built a helium-refrigeration plant that lowers the LCLS-II accelerator to superconducting temperatures.

August 31, 2022  ·  6 min read
Images of frost and a thermometer superimposed over an aerial view of an accelerator building.
Illustration

Cross section of cryomodule

A cross section of the LCLS-II accelerator showing where liquid and gaseous helium flow in and out of the system.
August 30, 2022
Cross section showing pipes and liquid and gas helium
News Feature

Exploring quantum electron highways with laser light

Spiraling laser light reveals how topological insulators lose their ability to conduct electric current on their surfaces.

August 18, 2022  ·  5 min read
Against a black background, thin, glowing red wires at top impinge on the hexagonal surface of a translucent mass. Small white dots travel along the edges of the surface in two directions. Within the mass, two orange cones meet at their tips.
News Feature

SLAC expands and centralizes computing infrastructure to prepare for data challenges of the future

An extension of the Stanford Research Computing Facility will host several data centers to handle the unprecedented data streams that will be produced by...

July 27, 2022  ·  7 min read
SRCF-II
SLAC Science Explained

XFELs: Spying on atoms and molecules

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

June 1, 2022  ·  6 min read
Molecular movie filmstrip.
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