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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

Windows that darken to filter out sunlight in response to electric current, function much like batteries. Now, X-ray studies at SLAC provide a crystal-clear...

lithium ions interact with an ultrathin sheet of nickel oxide
News Feature

SLAC researchers have found a new way to transform graphite into diamond. The approach may have implications for industrial applications ranging from cutting tools...

News Feature

X-ray studies conducted at SLAC and in the United Kingdom have resurrected the detailed chemistry of 50-million-year-old leaves from fossils found in the western...

A composite optical and X-ray image (red is copper, green is zinc, blue is nickel) of a 50-million-year-old leaf fossil. Trace metals correlate with the leaf's original biological structures. Also visible are ancient caterpillar feeding tubes.
Press Release

Scientists have discovered a potential way to make graphene – a single layer of carbon atoms with great promise for future electronics – superconducting...

Superconducting Graphene Layers
News Feature

A new tool for analyzing mountains of data from SLAC’s Linac Coherent Lightsource (LCLS) X-ray laser can produce high-quality images of important proteins using...

Photo - Nicholas Sauter, middle, points to a monitor during an experiment this month at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray laser.
News Feature

A new system at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory's X-ray laser narrows a rainbow spectrum of X-ray colors to a more intense band of light...

Photo - A view of the soft X-ray self-seeding system during installation in the Undulator Hall at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray laser. (Brad Plummer/SLAC)
News Feature

An experiment at SLAC’s X-ray laser has revealed the first atomic-scale details of a new technique that could point the way to faster data...

Image - A laser-driven electric pulse excites a magnetic response in a multiferroic material that is measured by SLAC's X-ray laser pulse (blue).
News Feature

Growing up in China shortly after the Cultural Revolution, Zhirong Huang may have been the only middle-school child in Beijing who knew anything about...

Zhirong Huang, associate professor of physics
News Feature

Teachers are using Google+ to bring their classes behind the scenes at national laboratories and to teach students about careers in STEM.

News Feature

While this particular material is very unstable, the research shows it may be possible to find a material with the properties graphene has to...

photo of zhongkai liu
News Feature

A 2-ton instrument the size of a compact car, now available at SLAC's X-ray laser, makes it possible to capture more detailed images of...

Photo - A view of the LAMP instrument at SLAC's Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray laser. (SLAC)
News Feature

Crafted in a single atomic layer, it could be a natural fit for making thin, flexible light-based electronics, as well as futuristic 'spintronics' and...

This diagram shows a single layer of MoSe2 thin film (green and yellow balls) grown on a layer of graphene (black balls) that has formed on the surface of a silicon carbide substrate. (Yi Zhang, SIMES and ALS/Berkeley Lab)