SLAC

The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) is an extremely powerful X-ray laser – and now it's about to get even more powerful. The second generation of the instrument has now achieved first light, with scientists demonstrating fine control of the beam.

Particle accelerators could be incredibly useful for medicine – if they weren’t so huge. Now, scientists at Stanford have managed to shrink the tech down to fit on a computer chip, which could lead to more precise cancer radiation therapies.

Physicists at Stanford and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have narrowed down the search for dark matter. Using observations of galaxies orbiting the Milky Way, the team found that dark matter is likely lighter than previously thought – and interacts even less with normal matter.

A team led by Gabriel Blaj, a staff scientist at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University, has generated what may be the loudest possible underwater sound.

The SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has developed a compact antenna that can transmit radio signals underwater, and even through solid earth. The new 4-inch (10-cm) antenna exploits the piezoelectric effect to generate Very Low Frequency (VLF) waves that normally require antennae miles long.

Waiting for water to boil is a minor inconvenience that we’ve all experienced. Maybe next time try the world’s most powerful X-ray laser, which has now been used to boil water to 100,000° C in 75 millionths of a billionth of a second, turning it into a new plasma-like state of matter in the process.

The world’s most powerful X-ray laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), is about to get far more powerful. The first of 37 “cryomodules” has arrived at Stanford University’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, which will boost the speed and power of the facility.

Gemstones might not seem so valuable if they literally rained from the sky, but that's thought to be a common weather pattern on ice giant planets. Now scientists at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have seen it in action here on Earth, by making it rain diamonds in the lab.

At just three atoms wide, scientists from Stanford University and the SLAC laboratory say they've created the world's thinnest nanowire assembled from diamondoids. The researchers believe that the new wire could be useful in a range of applications including energy-generating materials.

Scientists at the US Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have developed a sun-activated device that kills 99.999 percent of bacteria in water, within just 20 minutes.​

Working with a new magnetic insulator material with unusual atomic properties, scientists at Stanford University have observed electrical conduction in a non-conductive material that may lead to superior magnetic memory devices.

The US Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has given the green light to start construction of the world's largest digital camera. With a resolution of 3.2-gigapixels, the new camera is at the LSST now under construction atop Cerro Pachón in Chile.