When Aaron Lindenberg was introduced to ultrafast science as a first-year grad student at UC Berkeley, he was immediately hooked. He knew he wanted to be part of a hot research field that explores nature’s speediest processes and lets us see the world with different eyes.
Hopefully you've discovered this week how femtosecond science provides revolutionary views of some of nature’s fastest phenomena. You now know how mind-bogglingly fast a femtosecond passes, and you might be thinking things couldn't get much faster. Well, let’s talk about the attosecond.
It might be difficult to imagine a job that spans understanding the cosmos, bringing fusion energy to Earth, and treating cancer, but that’s exactly what Siegfried Glenzer does.
It all started when a high school chemistry teacher encouraged Amy Cordones-Hahn to leapfrog her regular classroom assignments and do experiments in his lab.
Gabriella Carini enjoys those little moments—after hours and hours of testing in clean rooms, labs and at X-ray beamlines—when she first sees an instrument work.
Agostino “Ago” Marinelli first met pioneering accelerator physicist Claudio Pellegrini as an undergraduate student at the University of Rome. It was 2007, a couple of years before the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) came online at SLAC, and people were abuzz about free-electron laser physics.
The text on this screen may appear stable enough, but every molecule, atom, and electron in it is in constant motion. The laws of quantum physics require that on the atomic scale nothing is ever truly at rest. Nano-sized motion also keeps us warm, cooks our food, lights our smartphones, and enables all of our senses of hearing, sight, smell, taste, and touch.
Got a millionth of a billionth of a second? There’s science that actually happens on this timescale. Join us online for a week of ultrafast science from April 17 to 21. Learn more about how scientists and engineers use electron beams and bright pulses of light from the Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray laser and other advanced lasers to capture some of nature’s speediest processes that occur in just femtoseconds, or quadrillionths of a second.
A new institute at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is using the power of theory to search for new types of materials that could revolutionize society – by making it possible, for instance, to transmit electricity over power lines with no loss.
When DNA is hit with ultraviolet light, it can lose excess energy from radiation by ejecting the core of a hydrogen atom — a single proton — to keep other chemical bonds in the system from breaking. To gain insight into this process, researchers used X-ray laser pulses from the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to investigate how energy from light transforms a relatively simple molecule, 2-thiopyridone.
X-ray studies done in part at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have produced surprising insights into the workings of a hormone receptor associated with blood pressure regulation. Researchers believe it could be a target for new medicines related to cardiovascular conditions, neuropathic pain and tissue growth.
Producing and distributing hydrogen peroxide is a challenge in many parts of the world. Now scientists at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Stanford University have created a small device for hydrogen peroxide production that could be powered by renewable energy sources, like conventional solar panels.
At a March 7 ceremony, three employees of the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory were awarded the lab’s highest honor – the SLAC Director’s Award.
A research collaboration designed and built special spectacles, or corrective phase plates, for use at light sources that use high-intensity X-rays to probe matter in fine detail. Nature Communications published the details of the method, developed in part by researchers at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
scientists at the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Brookhaven National Laboratory, and other institutes designed a new assembly-line system that rapidly replaces exposed biological samples by moving droplets along a miniature conveyor belt, timed to coincide with the arrival of the X-ray pulses. The droplet-on-tape system now allows the team to study the biochemical reactions in real-time from microseconds to seconds, revealing the stages of these complex reactions.
After losing its first match of the day to the defending champions, The Harker School’s team won 10 consecutive rounds to claim victory in the annual SLAC Regional DOE Science Bowl on Saturday, Feb. 11.
An international team of scientists used an X-ray laser at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to determine the structure of an insect virus’s crystalline protein “cocoon.”
A recent study led by scientists at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory helps describe how uranium cycles through the environment at former uranium mining sites and why it can be difficult to remove.
For the first time in more than 50 years, a door that is opened at the western end of the historic linear accelerator at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory casts light on four empty walls stretching as far as the eye can see. This end of the linac – a full kilometer of it – has been stripped of all its equipment both above and below ground.
In a proof-of-concept study published in Nature Physics, researchers drew magnetic squares in a nonmagnetic material with an electrified pen and then “read” this magnetic doodle with X-rays.
Theoretical physicists at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory used computer simulations to show how special light pulses could create robust channels where electricity flows without resistance in an atomically thin semiconductor.
Scientists at Stanford University and the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have discovered a way to use diamondoids – the smallest possible bits of diamond – to assemble atoms into the thinnest possible electrical wires, just three atoms wide.
Biology isn't just for biologists anymore. That's nowhere more apparent than in the newly furnished lab in room 097 of the Shriram Center basement, where flasks of bacterial and animal cells, snug in their incubators, are churning out proteins destined for jobs they may not have done in nature.
Simon Bare, who joined the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory in April, spent 30 years as an industrial chemist investigating how catalysts work. Now, as co-director of the Chemistry and Catalysis Division at the lab’s Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL), his goal is to build on research strengths at SLAC and Stanford University to create a West Coast center for catalyst research and define new research directions.
Phil Manning and his colleagues have used synchrotron light for nearly a decade to help interpret the chemical signatures locked within fossilized life. Bright X-rays have allowed them to study fossilized worm burrows, recreate pigment patterns in ancient bird feathers, see how Jurassic dinosaur bones heal and image the living chemistry of 50-million year old plant fossils.
New X-ray methods at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have captured the highest resolution room-temperature images of protein complex photosystem II, which allows scientists to closely watch how water is split during photosynthesis at the temperature at which it occurs naturally.
Researchers at the Stanford PULSE Institute have invented a new way to probe the valence electrons of atoms deep inside a crystalline solid.
Scientists have used the powerful X-ray laser at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to make the first snapshots of a chemical interaction between two biomolecules – one that flips an RNA “switch” that regulates production of proteins, the workhorse molecules of life.
To understand the three-dimensional shape of a protein, scientists often rely on information from similar molecules. But sometimes, the protein is so unique that it’s not possible to find a close relative.
Researchers at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory are playing key roles in two recently funded computing projects with the goal of developing cutting-edge scientific applications for future exascale supercomputers that can perform at least a billion billion computing operations per second – 50 to 100 times more than the most powerful supercomputers in the world today.
Engineering teams at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory took advantage of the lull in experiments to make important upgrades during a recent routine beam shutdown at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL). The newly outfitted beamlines will help visiting researchers and SLAC scientists run experiments using the synchrotron's extremely bright X-ray radiation.
More than 400 participants came to the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory for the 2016 LCLS/SSRL Annual Users' Meeting and Workshops, held Oct. 5-8.
Under beams of X-rays, the colors of art become the colors of chemistry. The mysterious blacks, reds and whites of ancient Greek pottery can be read in elements — iron, potassium, calcium and zinc — and art history may be rewritten.
Theoretical physicist James D. “BJ” Bjorken, a professor emeritus at Stanford University and the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, will share the 2017 Robert R. Wilson Prize for Achievement in the Physics of Particle Accelerators for groundbreaking theoretical work that helped researchers understand and cope with an important constraint on the intensity and focus of particle beams in accelerators.
Terrence Malick's science documentary "Voyage of Time" features two scenes contributed by visualization expert Ralf Kaehler and astrophysicist Tom Abel from the Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC), a joint institute of Stanford University and the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
More than 40 college students spent 10 weeks at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory this summer working on research projects related to the lab’s Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) X-ray laser.
Trevor Petach is the winner of the 2016 Melvin P. Klein Scientific Development Award – an annual prize recognizing outstanding research accomplishments by new investigators based on work performed at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL) at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
Structural biology research conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has uncovered how small insecticidal protein crystals that are naturally produced by bacteria might be tailored to combat dengue fever and the Zika virus.
Laura Schelhas, Beth Miller and Anna Wise are highly accomplished postdoctoral scholars at the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. They conduct research under the supervision of Mike Toney, a distinguished staff scientist at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL), a DOE Office of Science User Facility. Schelhas researches new material discovery and design for solar applications, Miller studies next-generation lithium sulfur batteries, and Wise is implementing a new imaging technique to acquire very high-resolution images of materials.
In order to discover the true colors of ancient animals, scientists are using X-rays to closely examine the chemical details of modern bird feathers. The researchers were able to map elements that make up pigments responsible for red and black colors in feathers. They hope to use this information to find traces of the same pigments in fossil specimens of extinct animals, such as dinosaurs. This latest discovery means that scientists may be able to go beyond monochrome in their depictions of fossilized creatures, and make steps towards portraying their colors more accurately.
The coupling between electrons and phonons determines how efficiently solar cells convert sunlight into electricity. It also plays key roles in superconductors that transfer electricity without losses, topological insulators that conduct electricity only on their surfaces, materials that drastically change their electrical resistance when exposed to a magnetic field, and more. At the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, scientists can study these coupled motions in unprecedented detail with the world’s most powerful X-ray laser, the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). LCLS is a DOE Office of Science User Facility.
Scientists have known for a long time that an atom or molecule can also be in two different states at once. Now researchers at the Stanford PULSE Institute and the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have exploited this Schroedinger’s Cat behavior to create X-ray movies of atomic motion with much more detail than ever before.
Makoto Hashimoto, a staff scientist at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL), has received the Farrel W. Lytle Award for his technical and scientific contributions to a research program that has produced new insights about high-temperature superconductors – materials that conduct electricity perfectly with no resistance at temperatures significantly higher than conventional superconductors.
The U.S. Department of Energy today announced the launch of the Durable Module Materials National Lab Consortium, or DuraMat, which is designed to accelerate the development and deployment of new, high-performance materials for photovoltaic (PV) modules to lower the cost of electricity generated by solar power while increasing the lifetime of modules in the field. Led by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), it includes SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Sandia National Laboratories and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, as well as partners from academia and industry. The U.S. Department of Energy today announced the launch of the Durable Module Materials National Lab Consortium, or DuraMat, which is designed to accelerate the development and deployment of new, high-performance materials for photovoltaic (PV) modules to lower the cost of electricity generated by solar power while increasing the lifetime of modules in the field. Led by the National Renewable Energy La
Over a hundred physicists from around the world came to the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory for two weeks in August to attend the 44th SLAC Summer Institute (SSI) on “New Horizons on the Energy Frontier.”
Researchers at Stanford University and the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have developed a tough new catalyst that carries out a solar-powered reaction 100 times faster than ever before, works better as time goes on and stands up to acid.
Yijin Liu is the winner of Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource’s (SSRL) 2016 William E. and Diane M. Spicer Young Investigator Award. The award is given each year to early-career X-ray scientists who perform research at SSRL, a DOE Office of Science user facility at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory.
An ultrafast “electron camera” at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory has made the first direct snapshots of atomic nuclei in molecules that are vibrating within millionths of a billionth of a second after being hit by a laser pulse. The method, called ultrafast electron diffraction (UED), could help scientists better understand the role of nuclear motions in light-driven processes that naturally occur on extremely fast timescales.
Merging two powerful 3-D X-ray techniques, a team of researchers from the Department of Energy's SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory and Utrecht University in the Netherlands revealed new details of a process known as metal poisoning that clogs the pores of catalyst particles used in gasoline production, causing them to lose effectiveness.
Imagine getting a medical X-ray that comes out blank – as if your bones had vanished. That’s what happened when scientists cranked up the intensity of the world’s first X-ray laser, at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, to get a better look at a sample they were studying: The X-rays seemed to go right through it as if it were not there.
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