Released: 3-Dec-2014 4:50 PM EST
SLAC, RadiaBeam Build New Tool to Tweak Rainbows of X-ray Laser Light
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

The Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has teamed up with Santa Monica-based RadiaBeam Systems to develop a device known as a dechirper, which will provide a new way of adjusting the range of energies within single pulses from SLAC’s X-ray laser.

Released: 4-Dec-2014 1:30 PM EST
Rattled Atoms Mimic High-Temperature Superconductivity
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

An experiment at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory provided the first fleeting glimpse of the atomic structure of a material as it entered a state resembling room-temperature superconductivity – a long-sought phenomenon in which materials might conduct electricity with 100 percent efficiency under everyday conditions.

Released: 4-Dec-2014 3:15 PM EST
X-Ray Laser Reveals How Bacterial Protein Morphs in Response to Light
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Researchers have captured the highest-resolution snapshots ever taken with an X-ray laser that show changes in a protein’s structure over time, revealing how a key protein in a photosynthetic bacterium changes shape when hit by light. They achieved a resolution of 1.6 angstroms, equivalent to the radius of a single tin atom.

Released: 8-Dec-2014 3:30 PM EST
Study May Help Slow the Spread of Flu
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

An important study conducted in part at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory may lead to new, more effective vaccines and medicines by revealing detailed information about how a flu antibody binds to a wide variety of flu viruses.

Released: 11-Dec-2014 2:15 PM EST
DESY's Henry Chapman Awarded Leibniz Prize for X-ray Laser Research
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Henry Chapman, a scientist at Germany’s DESY lab who participated in pioneering studies at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory’s Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray laser, has been awarded the Leibniz Prize. The 2.5 million euro ($3.1 million) scientific award is bestowed by a German research foundation. LCLS is a Department of Energy Office of Science User Facility.

Released: 15-Dec-2014 6:20 PM EST
Is the Higgs Boson a Piece of the Matter-Antimatter Puzzle?
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Several experiments, including the BaBar experiment at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, have helped explain some – but not all – of the imbalance between matter and antimatter in the universe. Now a SLAC theorist and his colleagues have laid out a possible method for determining if the Higgs boson is involved.

Released: 19-Dec-2014 1:00 PM EST
First Direct Evidence that a Mysterious Phase of Matter Competes with High-Temperature Superconductivity
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Scientists have found the first direct evidence that a mysterious phase of matter known as the "pseudogap" competes with high-temperature superconductivity, robbing it of electrons that otherwise might pair up to carry current through a material with 100 percent efficiency.

Released: 9-Jan-2015 2:00 PM EST
World’s Most Powerful Camera Receives Funding Approval
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Plans for the construction of the world’s largest digital camera at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have reached a major milestone. The 3,200-megapixel centerpiece of the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST), which will provide unprecedented details of the universe and help address some of its biggest mysteries, has received key “Critical Decision 2” approval from the DOE.

Released: 16-Jan-2015 2:00 PM EST
SLAC’s Peter Rowson Named American Physical Society Fellow
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

SLAC staff physicist Peter Rowson has been elected a fellow of the American Physical Society, the largest physics association in the world. APS confers this distinction on a small percentage of the society’s membership; it is especially significant because it is a peer-nominated honor.

Released: 22-Jan-2015 4:00 PM EST
SLAC Scientists Search for New Ways to Deal with U.S. Uranium Ore Processing Legacy
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory are trying to find out why uranium persists in groundwater at former uranium ore processing sites despite remediation of contaminated surface materials two decades ago. They think buried organic material may be at fault, storing toxic uranium at levels that continue to pose risks to human health and the environment, and hope their study will pave the way for better long-term site management and protection of the public and environment.

Released: 27-Jan-2015 1:25 PM EST
SLAC Welcomes Professor and Chemical Sciences Division Director Tony Heinz
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Tony Heinz, a scientist known for exploring the properties of nanoscale materials and developing important new tools for that exploration, has joined the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory as a professor of photon science and Stanford University as a professor of applied physics. He will also lead the SLAC Chemical Sciences Division.

Released: 28-Jan-2015 3:00 PM EST
X-Ray Study Reveals Division of Labor in Cell Health Protein
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Researchers working in part at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have discovered that a key protein for cell health, which has recently been linked to diabetes, cancer and other diseases, can multitask by having two identical protein parts divide labor.

Released: 2-Feb-2015 5:00 PM EST
5 Ways to Put Tiny Targets in Front of an X-Ray Laser
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

X-ray devices have long been used to see the inner structure of things, from bone breaks in the human body to the contents of luggage at airport security checkpoints. But to see life's chemistry and exotic materials at the scale of individual atoms, you need a far more powerful X-ray device. Enter the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray laser at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

Released: 4-Feb-2015 1:00 PM EST
Record Keeping Helps Bacteria’s Immune System Fight Invaders
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Bacteria have a sophisticated means of defending themselves, and they need it: more viruses infect bacteria than any other biological entity. Two experiments undertaken at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory provide new insight at the heart of bacterial adaptive defenses in a system called CRISPR, short for Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeat.

9-Feb-2015 2:30 PM EST
Scientists Get First Glimpse of a Chemical Bond Being Born
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Scientists have used an X-ray laser at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to get the first glimpse of the transition state where two atoms begin to form a weak bond on the way to becoming a molecule.

Released: 9-Feb-2015 4:00 PM EST
National Academy of Engineering Elects SUNCAT Director Jens Nørskov
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Jens Nørskov, director of the SUNCAT Center for Interface Science and Catalysis at Stanford and the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, has been named a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE), one of the highest professional distinctions for engineers.

Released: 9-Feb-2015 7:00 PM EST
SLAC Hosts 11th Annual Regional DOE Science Bowl
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

The Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory welcomed 20 high school teams from five San Francisco Bay Area counties to the 2015 Regional DOE Science Bowl on Feb. 7. It was the 11th time the lab hosted the annual event.

10-Feb-2015 1:40 PM EST
Scientists Take First X-ray Portraits of Living Bacteria at the LCLS
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Researchers working at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have captured the first X-ray portraits of living bacteria. This milestone, reported in the Feb. 11 issue of Nature Communications, is a first step toward possible X-ray explorations of the molecular machinery at work in viral infections, cell division, photosynthesis and other processes that are important to biology, human health and our environment.

10-Feb-2015 6:40 PM EST
SLAC Researchers to Present at AAAS 2015
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory researchers will share the latest discoveries and innovations in a wide range of fields at this year’s AAAS Annual Meeting (Feb. 12-16 in San Jose, Calif.), including X-ray lasers, quantum materials, citizen science, new materials for electronics, cosmology visualization, computer-aided catalyst design, next-generation batteries, accelerators, advanced adaptive optics, cosmic inflation and nanoscale optical tomography.

Released: 13-Feb-2015 1:45 PM EST
SLAC and Stanford's James D. Bjorken Shares 2015 Wolf Prize in Physics
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

SLAC theoretical physicist and Stanford Professor Emeritus James D. “BJ” Bjorken has been awarded the 2015 Wolf Prize in Physics for his key role in elucidating the nature of the strong force and predicting what would happen if electrons were violently slammed into protons in the atomic nucleus.

Released: 17-Feb-2015 2:30 PM EST
Study Could Pave the Way for Painkillers with Fewer Side Effects
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Researchers have long sought alternatives to morphine – a powerful and widely used painkiller – that curb its side effects, including dependency, nausea and dizziness. Now, an experiment at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has supplied the most complete atomic-scale map of such a compound docked with a cellular receptor that regulates the body’s pain response and tolerance.

Released: 18-Feb-2015 6:15 PM EST
Semiconductor Works Better When Hitched to Graphene
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Graphene – a one-atom-thick sheet of carbon with highly desirable electrical properties, flexibility and strength – shows great promise for future electronics, advanced solar cells, protective coatings and other uses, and combining it with other materials could extend its range even further.

Released: 20-Feb-2015 3:00 PM EST
New Programs Enhance SIMES Role in Studying Exotic New Materials
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Two new three-year research projects are supporting the role of the Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences (SIMES) as a leading center for studying exotic new materials that could enable future innovative electronic and photonic applications. SIMES is a joint institute of Stanford University and the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.

Released: 25-Feb-2015 12:20 PM EST
SLAC-led Research Team Bends Highly Energetic Electron Beam with Crystal
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

An international team of researchers working at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has demonstrated that a bent silicon crystal can bend the paths of focused, very energetic electron beams much more than magnets used today. The method could be of interest for particle accelerator applications such as next-generation X-ray lasers that will help scientists unravel atomic structures and motions in unprecedented detail.

Released: 26-Feb-2015 12:05 PM EST
SLAC Assumes a Leading Role for SuperCDMS SNOLAB
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Deciphering the nature of dark matter – the mysterious substance that makes up about 85 percent of the matter in the universe yet has never been directly seen – is one of the most important quests in particle physics today. As the lead laboratory in the Department of Energy for the SuperCDMS SNOLAB project, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is playing an important role in tracking it down.

Released: 2-Mar-2015 5:05 PM EST
Giant Virus Revealed in 3-D Using X-ray Laser
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

For the first time, researchers have produced a 3-D image revealing part of the inner structure of an intact, infectious virus, using a unique X-ray laser at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The virus, called Mimivirus, is in a curious class of “giant viruses” discovered just over a decade ago.

Released: 9-Mar-2015 3:40 PM EDT
Scientists Gather at SLAC to Prepare for Large Synoptic Survey Telescope
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

When the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope begins in 2022 to image the entire southern sky from a mountaintop in Chile, it will produce the widest, deepest and fastest views of the night sky ever observed – and a flood of 6 million gigabytes of data per year that are expected to provide new insights into dark matter, dark energy and other cosmic mysteries.

Released: 10-Mar-2015 1:30 PM EDT
Possible Rare Dwarf Galaxies Found Orbiting Milky Way
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Researchers have discovered a set of eight celestial objects orbiting our home galaxy, the Milky Way, that appear to be rare dwarf satellite galaxies. Dwarf galaxies are the smallest known galaxy structures and may hold the key to understanding dark matter.

Released: 11-Mar-2015 11:05 AM EDT
New 2-Color X-ray Laser Technique Could Reveal Atomic Detail of Medically Important Proteins
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

A unique X-ray laser innovation developed at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory may make it easier and faster for scientists to fully map medically important proteins whose structures have remained stubbornly out of reach.

Released: 18-Mar-2015 6:20 PM EDT
Scientists Watch Quantum Dots 'Breathe' in Response to Stress
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory watched nanoscale semiconductor crystals expand and shrink in response to powerful pulses of laser light. This ultrafast “breathing” provides new insight about how such tiny structures change shape as they start to melt – information that can help guide researchers in tailoring their use for a range of applications.

Released: 23-Mar-2015 1:40 PM EDT
Experiment Provides the Best Look Yet at 'Warm Dense Matter' at Cores of Giant Planets
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

In an experiment at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, scientists precisely measured the temperature and structure of aluminum as it transitions into a superhot, highly compressed concoction known as “warm dense matter.”

Released: 1-Apr-2015 2:35 PM EDT
Scientists Track Ultrafast Creation of a Catalyst with X-ray Laser
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

An international team has for the first time precisely tracked the surprisingly rapid process by which light rearranges the outermost electrons of a metal compound and turns it into an active catalyst – a substance that promotes chemical reactions.

Released: 7-Apr-2015 12:10 PM EDT
First Endowed Professorship to Link SLAC and Stanford Honors Arthur Bienenstock
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Stanford University and the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have established the first endowed professorship that is reserved specifically for joint appointments between the two.

Released: 13-Apr-2015 4:45 PM EDT
Researchers Create a New Map of Invisible Dark Matter
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Scientists on the Dark Energy Survey, including researchers from the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, have released the first in a series of dark matter maps of the cosmos. These maps, created with one of the world’s most powerful digital cameras, are the largest contiguous maps created at this level of detail, and will improve our understanding of dark matter’s role in the formation of galaxies. They may also shed light on an unknown form of energy, called dark energy, which is believed to cause the universe to expand at an accelerating rate.

Released: 20-Apr-2015 2:05 PM EDT
SLAC and Stanford’s James D. Bjorken Receives 2015 High Energy and Particle Physics Prize
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

James D. Bjorken, a theoretical physicist and professor emeritus at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and at Stanford University, has been awarded the 2015 High Energy and Particle Physics Prize of the European Physical Society (EPS). Along with four other scientists, he was honored for theoretical work that revolutionized our understanding of the internal structure of the proton.

21-Apr-2015 12:00 PM EDT
X-Ray Study May Aid in Designing Better Blood Pressure Drugs
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

An experiment at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has revealed in atomic detail how a hypertension drug binds to a cellular receptor that plays a key role in regulating blood pressure. The results could help scientists design new drugs that better control blood pressure while limiting side effects.

Released: 29-Apr-2015 1:10 PM EDT
SIMES Researchers Elected to National Academy of Sciences
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Materials scientists and professors at Stanford University and the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory Zhi-Xun Shen, Shoucheng Zhang and Aharon Kapitulnik were elected to the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). All three researchers are principal investigators at the joint SLAC and Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences (SIMES).

Released: 30-Apr-2015 2:20 PM EDT
Researchers Study How Metal Contamination Makes Gasoline Production Inefficient
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Scientists at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Utrecht University have identified key mechanisms of the aging process of catalyst particles that are used to refine crude oil into gasoline. This advance could lead to more efficient gasoline production.

Released: 1-May-2015 5:05 PM EDT
New Tool Shrinks Big Data in Biology Studies at SLAC's X-ray Laser
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

A team led by Stanford scientists has created software that tackles the big data problem for X-ray laser experiments at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. The program allows researchers to tease out more details while using far fewer samples and less data and time. It can also be used to breathe new life into old data by reanalyzing and improving results from past experiments at the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray free-electron laser, a DOE Office of Science User Facility.

Released: 5-May-2015 1:05 PM EDT
Compact Light Source Improves CT Scans
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

A new study shows that the recently developed Compact Light Source (CLS) – a commercial X-ray source with roots in research and development efforts at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory – enables computer tomography scans that reveal more detail than routine scans performed at hospitals today. The new technology could soon be used in preclinical studies and help researchers better understand cancer and other diseases.

Released: 8-May-2015 5:10 PM EDT
SLAC Researcher Receives DOE 'Early Career' Grant to Support X-ray Optics and Imaging
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Anne Sakdinawat, an associate staff scientist at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, has been recognized with a prestigious DOE Early Career Research Program grant to advance her work in creating and using next-generation focusing and imaging devices for X-ray experiments at SLAC and other research sites.

Released: 12-May-2015 1:30 PM EDT
Construction of LSST Clean Room at SLAC Completed
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Engineers and scientists at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory working on the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) gathered on May 8 to celebrate the completion of a new clean room, where they will soon begin to assemble the largest digital camera ever built.

Released: 20-May-2015 1:30 PM EDT
SLAC Gears Up for Dark Matter Hunt with LUX-ZEPLIN
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Researchers have come a step closer to building one of the world’s best dark matter detectors: The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) recently signed off on the conceptual design of the proposed LUX-ZEPLIN (LZ) experiment and gave the green light for the procurement of some of its components. DOE’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, a key member of the LZ collaboration, is setting up a test stand for the detector prototype and a facility to purify liquid xenon, which will be the detector’s “eye” for dark matter.

Released: 21-May-2015 2:05 PM EDT
Researchers Watch Protein 'Quake' after Chemical Bond Break
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Scientists for the first time have precisely measured a protein’s natural “knee-jerk” reaction to the breaking of a chemical bond – a quaking motion that propagated through the protein at the speed of sound.

Released: 27-May-2015 12:45 PM EDT
Spiraling Laser Pulses Could Change the Nature of Graphene
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

A new study predicts that researchers could use spiraling pulses of laser light to change the nature of graphene, turning it from a metal into an insulator and giving it other peculiar properties that might be used to encode information.

Released: 8-Jun-2015 4:05 PM EDT
President Obama Honors Claudio Pellegrini with Enrico Fermi Award
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Claudio Pellegrini, a visiting scientist and consulting professor at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and distinguished professor emeritus at the University of California, Los Angeles, will receive the 2014 Enrico Fermi Award for his role in laying the scientific groundwork for the X-ray free-electron laser.

Released: 10-Jun-2015 3:05 PM EDT
Newly Discovered Property Could Help Beat the Heat Problem in Computer Chips
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

X-ray studies at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have for the first time observed an exotic property that could warp the electronic structure of a material in a way that reduces heat buildup and improves performance in ever-smaller computer components.

16-Jun-2015 4:05 PM EDT
Study Finds a Way to Prevent Fires in Next-Generation Lithium Batteries
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

In a study that could improve the safety of next-generation batteries, researchers discovered that adding two chemicals to the electrolyte of a lithium metal battery prevents the formation of dendrites – “fingers” of lithium that pierce the barrier between the battery’s halves, causing it to short out, overheat and sometimes burst into flame.

Released: 19-Jun-2015 1:00 PM EDT
SLAC Research Resumes at Upgraded Large Hadron Collider
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Research with the Large Hadron Collider has officially resumed. The world’s largest particle accelerator at CERN began on June 3 to collect data at a new record energy that could hold the key to new scientific discoveries. To keep up with the boost in performance, researchers at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have developed new technologies for ATLAS – one of two experiments involved in the 2012 discovery of the Higgs boson.

Released: 19-Jun-2015 2:10 PM EDT
New ‘Molecular Movie’ Reveals Ultrafast Chemistry in Motion
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

Scientists for the first time tracked ultrafast structural changes, captured in quadrillionths-of-a-second steps, as ring-shaped gas molecules burst open and unraveled. Ring-shaped molecules are abundant in biochemistry and also form the basis for many drug compounds. The study points the way to a wide range of real-time X-ray studies of gas-based chemical reactions that are vital to biological processes.


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