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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

News Feature

A new screening program will allow researchers to quickly confirm whether precious biological samples yield useful information when struck by the intense X-ray pulses...

Photo - Marc Messerschmidt, a staff scientist who leads the Protein Crystal Screening Program at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray laser, works at the Coherent X-ray Imaging (CXI) experimental station. (Matt Beardsley)
News Feature

Last Saturday marked the 40th anniversary of an historic event: In 1973, a team of research pioneers extracted hard X-rays for the first time...

Photo - SSRP pilot project beamline inside SPEAR, 07/06/1973. (SLAC Archives)
News Feature

A tool developed half a century ago for sorting subatomic particles has been redesigned to measure X-ray laser pulses at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light...

Patrick Krejcik and Yuantao Ding, a staff scientist and lead researcher on the XTCAV project
News Feature

John Hill watched with eager anticipation as controllers ramped up the power systems driving SLAC's X-ray laser in an attempt to achieve the record...

Photo - Linear accelerator tunnel at SLAC. (SLAC Multimedia Communications)
Press Release

The first complete chemical analysis of feathers from Archaeopteryx, a famous fossil linking dinosaurs and birds, reveals that the feathers were patterned—light in color...

Paleontologists examine Berlin Archaeopteryx counter plate (Brad Plummer/SLAC)
News Feature

It's no surprise that the data systems for SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray laser have drawn heavily on the expertise of the particle...

Photo - Amedeo Perazzo.
Press Release

At first glance the beautifully bound 1797 Luigi Cherubini opera Médée looks like an impeccably preserved relic of opera's golden age. However, flip to...

Image - Thick smudges black out parts of an aria from Luigi Cherubini's 1797 opera "Medee." (Courtesy Uwe Bergmann)
News Feature

Last year's Nobel Prize in Chemistry – shared by Stanford School of Medicine Professor Brian Kobilka and Robert Lefkowitz of Duke University – recognized...

Image: Researchers Dingjie Wang and Garret Nelson fro...
News Feature

An imaging technique conceived 50 years ago has been successfully demonstrated at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source, where it is expected to improve results...

Image - Setup of an LCLS experiment using ptychography.
News Feature

Stephanie Mack, 20, read and reread the email in disbelief.

Photo - Shih-Wen Huang, left, and Stephanie Mack in Soft X-ray Instrument  control room
News Feature

SLAC researchers have demonstrated for the first time how to produce pairs of X-ray laser pulses in slightly different wavelengths, or colors, with finely...

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News Feature

Using laser light to read and write magnetic data by quickly flipping tiny magnetic domains could help keep pace with the demand for faster...

Photo - inside RCI sample chamber