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X-ray studies at SLAC facilities help scientists understand the fundamental workings of nature by probing matter in atomic detail.

atoms forming a tentative bond
Feature

The Scripps researcher is honored for groundbreaking research at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource that accelerated the development of a vaccine for deadly Lassa...

Photo - Kathryn Hastie, staff scientist at The Scripps Research Institute
Feature

With SLAC’s X-ray laser, scientists captured a virus changing shape and rearranging its genome to invade a cell.

The AMO (Atomic, Molecular & Optical Science) instrument
Feature

Tripling the energy and refining the shape of optical laser pulses at LCLS’s Matter in Extreme Conditions instrument allows researchers to recreate higher-pressure conditions...

Laser engineers with the upgraded Matter in Extreme Conditions optical laser
News Release

A serendipitous discovery lets researchers spy on this self-assembly process for the first time with SLAC’s X-ray synchrotron. What they learn will help them...

Illustration of nanocrystals forming into superlattices at SLAC's SSRL
Feature

A flash of green laser followed by pulses of X-rays, and mere nanoseconds later an extraterrestrial form of ice has formed.

Feature

The research team was able to watch energy from light flow through atomic ripples in a molecule. Such insights may provide new ways to...

View of the The X-ray Pump Probe instrument at SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source.
News Release

Extraordinarily precise measurements -- within millionths of a billionth of a second and a billionth of a hair's breadth -- show this ‘electron-phonon coupling’...

Illustration of a laser beam triggering atomic vibrations in iron selenide
Feature

A makeover of the historic Beam Switch Yard prepares the lab for the installation of the LCLS X-ray laser upgrade.

photo of BSY - see caption
Animation

An animation shows how an infrared laser beam (orange) triggers atomic vibrations in a thin layer of iron selenide, which are then recorded by...

infrared laser beam triggers atomic vibrations in a thin layer of iron selenide
Feature

The method dramatically reduces the amount of virus material required and allows scientists to get results several times faster.

Surface structure of the bovine enterovirus 2
Feature

Propagating “charge density wave” fluctuations are seen in superconducting copper oxides for the first time.

Illustration of electronic behavior in copper oxide materials
News Release

When scientists at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory focused the full intensity of the world’s most powerful X-ray l

molecular black hole