A drone captures a sweeping view of the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory at sunset in 2024, perched atop Cerro Pachón in Chile. The observatory is preparing to begin a 10-year survey of the southern sky, taking a new image every 30 seconds and collecting around 2,000 images every three nights. This ambitious effort will create an unprecedented 3D time-lapse of the universe. (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

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Sunrise timelapse of SSRL (Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource) (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

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Aerial view of SLAC’s  campus. Stanford campus and Hoover tower can be seen in the distance. (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

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SLAC’s campus looking south with Interstate 280 in the distance. (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

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The undulator hall, where electrons pass through precisely engineered magnetic arrays to generate soft and hard X-ray laser light. (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

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SLAC news center

News Release

NSF–DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory spots record-breaking asteroid in pre-survey observations

First peer-reviewed paper using data from SLAC-built LSST Camera identifies an asteroid, nearly the size of eight football fields, rotating every two minutes.

Illustration showing asteroids
News Brief

SLAC-Stanford team develops a better method to create superlattices with a twist

Imaging at SLAC's synchrotron demonstrates the twisted structures’ exotic properties that could benefit the development of superconductors and quantum materials.

January 16, 2026  ·  4 min read
A model of moiré materials
News Brief

Tightening the focus of subcellular snapshots

SLAC scientists develop an approach to better guide the preparation of cell slices for cryogenic-electron tomography imaging.

January 14, 2026  ·  3 min read
Cryo-ET image 2
Feature

This exotic form of ice just got weirder

Researchers find evidence of coexisting atomic stacking patterns in superionic water. 

January 8, 2026  ·  6 min read
Dark background with three connected elements: a blue and purple sphere on left, blue molecular spheres in center circle, and green prism on right.
News Brief

SLAC-Stanford team develops a better method to create superlattices with a twist

Imaging at SLAC's synchrotron demonstrates the twisted structures’ exotic properties that could benefit the development of superconductors and quantum materials.

January 16, 2026  ·  4 min read
A model of moiré materials
News Brief

Tightening the focus of subcellular snapshots

SLAC scientists develop an approach to better guide the preparation of cell slices for cryogenic-electron tomography imaging.

January 14, 2026  ·  3 min read
Cryo-ET image 2
Feature

This exotic form of ice just got weirder

Researchers find evidence of coexisting atomic stacking patterns in superionic water. 

January 8, 2026  ·  6 min read
Dark background with three connected elements: a blue and purple sphere on left, blue molecular spheres in center circle, and green prism on right.
News Release

SLAC and UCLA researchers build plasma accelerator that boosts electron energy and brightness at the same time

Surfing a plasma wave, electrons get an energy and brightness boost.

January 5, 2026  ·  6 min read
Illustration of electrons traveling through a plasma chamber
News Brief

SLAC researchers measure how materials hotter than the sun’s surface conduct electricity

With a new method that could be extended to study Earth’s core and nuclear fusion, they identify and explain jumps in the electrical conductivity...

December 18, 2025  ·  3 min read
Illustration of a short laser pulse heating a sheet of aluminum, causing it to melt and break up into droplets.
Feature

SLAC facility allows students to conduct research related to cancer therapy through BeamNetUS

NLCTA staff helped undergraduates from Harvey Mudd College use the facility’s electron beam to test a detector they designed. 

December 16, 2025  ·  5 min read
A team from Harvey Mudd College inside the NLCTA accelerator housing at SLAC.
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Humans Navigating Complexity with AI Helpers

Modern particle accelerator control rooms are like busy air traffic control centers, where skilled operators juggle hundreds of interconnected and time-sensitive tasks to generate...
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Jan 22
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At our large-scale facilities and specialized centers, scientists take advantage of powerful tools and unique expertise and collaborate with each other across a wide range of disciplines. Working together is what makes science tick.

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Two people looking over at equipment in the TMO Hutch.
SLAC is a world leader in X-ray and ultrafast science, offering researchers from all over the world access to our scientific facilities.  (Jacqueline Ramseyer Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
A view of SLAC’s Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL), looking west at sunset.
A view of SLAC’s Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL), looking west at sunset. (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
SLAC team taking a group selfie with the Legacy Survey of Space & Time (LSST) Camera.
SLAC built the world's largest camera for astrophysics for the NSF-DOE Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile – one of many complex projects we've led to enable major advances in science. (Jacqueline Ramseyer Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
Person gesturing to a research poster while explaining it to someone.
SLAC and Stanford researchers share their latest results at a poster session in SLAC's Science and User Support Building. (Jacqueline Ramseyer Orrell/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
Staff members at SLAC having lunch on the main quad outside the Science and User Support Building (SUSB), with clear blue skies overhead.
SLAC staff enjoy our annual holiday lunch on the Main Quad, with the Science and User Support Building (SUSB) in the background. (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
Two individuals with monitors & headphones engaged in conversation at the SLAC Shared Science Data Facility (S3DF).
The SLAC Shared Science Data Facility (S3DF) is a computing hub for data-rich science projects at SLAC and Stanford.  (Jim Gensheimer/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)

SLAC is a vibrant community of diverse perspectives and expertise, all working together to solve some of the most pressing challenges of our times.”

John Sarrao Lab Director Headshot of John Sarrao
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Codestin Search App
SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is a Department of Energy national lab run by Stanford in the heart of Silicon Valley. We invent scientific tools to explore the universe at its biggest, its smallest and its fastest. (01:30min) (Olivier Bonin/SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory)
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SLAC Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) accelerator tunnel.
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Physicist checking experimental equipment at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL).
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Scientist Dorian Bohler in control room

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SLAC/Stanford Professor Zhi-Xun Shen and SLAC staff scientist Patrick Kirchmann

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atoms forming a tentative bond

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Our first interns in the inaugural mechanical engineering internship program at SLAC, 2019

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Using X-rays from SSRL, Chuntian Cao maps silicon as it cycles within a battery

For students & educators

SLAC welcomed the Science in the City summer camp in July, 2022 where students aged 10-12 from underrepresented groups did experiments and presented their work at the end of the week.