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SLAC

@SLAClab

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The official account of SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, operated by Stanford University for the U.S. Dept of Energy. Verify:

Menlo Park, CA
Joined November 2009
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@SLAClab
SLAC
5 years
Thanks for the egg bites rat king!
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@MikeIsaac
rat king 🐀
5 years
accidentally mobile ordered ahead a coffee to a private stRbucks at a particle accelerator laboratory so congrats to the physicist who will eat my egg bites this am
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
Scientists saw how a molecular Ferris wheel delivers protons to cellular factories at the @Stanford -SLAC cryoEM center. No human cell can function without these tiny machines, which cause disease when they go haywire and offer potential targets for drugs.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
Don't keep all your eggs in one basket. Unless that basket is an unused bike helmet on a quiet campus during a global pandemic. Just be prepared for a bad case of helmet hair.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
6 years
Paleontologists have discovered the first detailed #fossil - 100 million years old - of a #hagfish , using X-rays at @SLAClab 's synchrotron @SSRLnews @UChicago @PNASNews @DrPhilManning
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
Today the White House announced the creation of 5 new Quantum Information Science Research Centers led by @ENERGY labs across the country. SLAC and @Stanford will partner on Q-NEXT, led by @argonne , to tackle next-generation quantum science challenges.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
7 months
💫 The world's largest digital camera for astronomy is complete. Once in place atop a telescope in Chile, the #LSST Camera will gather an unprecedented amount of data about our universe, yielding new insight into everything from asteroids to dark energy:
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@SLAClab
SLAC
11 years
In 1978 Alan Guth, then a @SLAClab postdoc, wrote this notebook page. His eureka moment confirmed today by #BICEP2 . http://t.co/Ve3Y3cjcCj
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
Particle accelerators help shed light on nature’s subatomic components, film atoms and molecules during chemical reactions and create medical devices to treat cancer. Now, a SLAC team has invented a structure that could make accelerators 10 times smaller.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
5 years
The largest high-performance optical lens ever fabricated (5.1 feet in diameter) has arrived. We'll soon integrate it into the 3,200-megapixel digital camera of @LSST . Photos of the lens delivery: @Livermore_Lab
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@SLAClab
SLAC
2 years
research
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@SLAClab
SLAC
7 years
#tbt 1987 Our historic 2-mile-long linac was runner up in @mercnews “Ugly Building Contest” for being “too long”
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@SLAClab
SLAC
6 years
The first direct look at how atoms move when a ring-shaped molecule breaks apart could boost our understanding of fundamental processes of life #visionaryscience @pulse_institute @NatureChemistry @Stanford
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@SLAClab
SLAC
1 year
💫 Almost there! After ten years of work, electrons now fly through SLAC’s new superconducting accelerator at more than 99.999% the speed of light. The lab is now just steps away from generating some of the most powerful X-ray flashes in the world. 🔗:
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@SLAClab
SLAC
6 years
Congratulations to @RisaWechsler , named the new director of the Kavli Institute for Particle #Astrophysics and #Cosmology @KIPAC1
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
Crews at SLAC have taken the first 3,200-megapixel digital photos – the largest ever taken in a single shot – with an extraordinary array of imaging sensors that will become the heart and soul of the @VRubinObs Legacy Survey of Space and Time.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
7 months
🌌 Travis Lange on the LSST camera: soon to map the universe from Chile, capturing 20 billion galaxies & offering real-time data for cosmic studies. @VRubinObs #SLACExplains #RubinObservatory #capturethecosmos #Astronomy #DarkMatter #DarkEnergy
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
A SLAC team has found a way to create cleaner and brighter X-ray pulses, improving data collection and paving the way for new kinds of experiments at X-ray laser facilities. The team looks forward to putting their idea to the test at #LCLS .
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
Today we ushered our brand new soft X-ray beam into the first LCLS-II era instrument! At TMO, scientists will investigate, at the quantum level, phenomena at the heart of photosynthesis, quantum computing, and the forming and breaking of bonds governing all chemical reactions.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
Wah Chiu, a pioneer in the development of methods for cryo-electron microscopy (cryo-EM), has been named the first Wallenberg-Bienenstock Professor at SLAC and @Stanford .
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
Scientists at #LCLS created electronic ripples in molecules with X-ray pulses lasting only billionths of a billionth of a second. These ultrashort pulses can jumpstart chemical reactions and processes at the heart of quantum mechanics and computing.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
The world's first hard X-ray free-electron laser #LCLS isn't afraid to show its soft side. Scientists directed electrons through its new "soft" X-ray undulator to produce lower energy X-rays, which will offer insights into quantum and chemical systems.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
6 months
🛠️ Hannah Pollek, SLAC mechanical engineer, gives us an inside look at how the LSST camera will photograph the southern night sky once it gets installed at @VRubinObs . #SLACExplains #RubinObservatory #capturethecosmos #Astronomy #DarkMatter #DarkEnergy
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@SLAClab
SLAC
5 years
A better way to think of #particles is as ripples on a #quantum field, says Natalia Toro, a theorist at @SLAClab . A quantum field has vibration modes like the harmonics on a guitar string. Pluck it with the right frequency and you get a particle.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
7 years
Congratulations to professor emerita Helen Quinn, honored with the 2018 Benjamin Franklin Medal in physics @TheFranklin
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@SLAClab
SLAC
2 years
🐧 Like when you spot the penguin!🐧 The Mark III group poses with the detector on July 22, 1981, the year it was installed. Experiments ran until 1988 and produced 132 scientific papers, many on the charmed D meson particle.✨ #SLACTurns60
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
Disappointed that our linear accelerator was not awarded first place in this ugly building competition. Guess we just weren't long enough. Hey @mercnews , is it too late to challenge the winner? We're not getting any shorter.
@LettersOfNote
Letters of Note
4 years
We will communicate this comment to the electrons.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
We see the light! Marking the beginning of the LCLS-II era, the first phase of the major upgrade came online today when #LCLS produced an X-ray beam for the first time using our newly installed undulators, designed and built by @BerkeleyLab and @argonne .
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@SLAClab
SLAC
3 years
Electronic circuits contain tiny switches that control the flow of electrons. A SLAC and @Stanford -led team captured ultrafast atomic motions inside one of these switches, discovering a new state that could lead to faster, more efficient computing devices.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
9 months
The camera 🤝 the team that’s building it @VRubinObs
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@SLAClab
SLAC
2 years
🏁Getting closer!🏃 Researchers recently installed the @VRubinObs LSST Camera's shutter, designed and built at SLAC and shown here being lowered into the camera body📸. Once complete, the 3,200 megapixel camera will take the most detailed images of the night sky ever made🌌.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
5 years
The @LSST camera team has installed the 1st of 21 science rafts - 3-by-3 arrays of state-of-the-art imaging sensors; together they'll take unprecedented 3.2-gigapixel images of the night sky, which, over time, will produce the world's largest astrophysical movie #visionaryscience
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@SLAClab
SLAC
5 months
🤩 The world's largest digital camera has arrived at the summit of Cerro Pachón in Chile! @SLACLab and @VRubinObs 's #LSST Camera will soon begin probing some of the Universe's biggest mysteries, including the nature of dark energy and dark matter:
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
We got a very cool delivery from @Fermilab this morning: the last LCLS-II cryomodule! Linked together and chilled to nearly absolute zero, these segments will accelerate electrons to almost the speed of light, powering an upgrade to #LCLS , our X-ray laser.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
7 years
Scientists create ‘diamond rain’ that forms in interior of icy giant planets
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@SLAClab
SLAC
2 years
🥶 In chilling news, our superconducting accelerator for #LCLSII has reached its final temperature and is now colder than most of the universe! 🌌 Shoutout to @JLab_News and @Fermilab for helping us reach this very cool milestone. ☃️
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@SLAClab
SLAC
2 years
🎂🎈Happy birthday to us! On April 30 60 years ago, Stanford representatives signed the SLAC construction contract. We think we've come a long way since then. (Witness the transformation between 1966 and today!) #SLACTurns60 🐛🦋
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@SLAClab
SLAC
5 years
Lights, camera, action! Thanks to @thephysicsgirl for getting more eyes on the optical lenses that will become part of the giant digital camera we’re building for @LSST .
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
Scientists from @argonne , @BerkeleyLab and SLAC used X-rays from #APS and #LCLS to probe polar vortices, mysterious swirling groups of atoms. Exploring and manipulating how polar vortices behave in materials could lead to faster data transfer and storage.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
6 years
The 1st cryomodule - from @Fermilab - has been installed in our linear #accelerator tunnel; when linked together & chilled to nearly absolute zero, 37 of these segments will accelerate #electrons to almost the speed of light & power the massive upgrade to our #Xray #laser #LCLS
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
Congrats to Auralee Edelen and Kimmy Wu, our 2020 Panofsky Fellows. They are harnessing the power of #machinelearning to transform the way scientists tune particle accelerators for experiments and solve longstanding mysteries in astrophysics and cosmology.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
7 years
A huge shout out to our fabulous #NationalLabs partners for helping with the upgrade to our X-ray laser (the nation's only X-ray free-electron laser facility), @Fermilab delivered the 1st cryomodule last week & @BerkeleyLab delivered the injector gun this week, thanks!
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@SLAClab
SLAC
1 year
😎 SLAC's particle accelerator is a state-of-the-art tool that generates very powerful X-rays to take snapshots of atoms and molecules in action. 🔗 Check out this short video and click this link to learn more:
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@SLAClab
SLAC
5 years
The #electron gun for the #LCLS -II #Xray #laser upgrade fired its first electrons last night @berkeleylab
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@SLAClab
SLAC
1 year
⚛️ Catching hydrogen atoms in action isn’t easy but with a little ammonia, UV light and a powerful electron beam, SLAC scientists did just that. With some fine-tuning, the method could reveal the mechanism of one of life’s key reactions. Story:
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@SLAClab
SLAC
11 months
✨LCLS, the world's first hard X-ray free-electron laser at SLAC, went from 120 to 1 million pulses/second! This upgrade, with an X-ray beam nearly 10,000 times brighter will revolutionize our ability to track chemical reactions in real time! Learn more:
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@SLAClab
SLAC
8 years
New device produces hydrogen peroxide for water purification
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@SLAClab
SLAC
6 years
. @LSST camera integration & testing team at @SLAClab has inserted a raft of 9 imaging sensors into the body of the ComCam, a miniature version of the 3.2-gigapixel LSST digital #camera which will be used for #telescope commissioning #visionaryscience
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
#LCLS is back and better than ever! With the help of our on-site team, @HasanDeMirciLab and his group at @kocuniversity (pic taken in 2019) kicked off the first experimental run of our upgraded #XFEL investigating if any existing drugs can be used in the fight against #COVID19 .
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@SLAClab
SLAC
6 years
Happy 10th anniversary to our groundbreaking & science-transforming #Xray #laser #LCLS ! We'll be showcasing how it has changed science and the discoveries it has revealed for the next 10 days #LCLS10 #ultrafast #visionaryscience #realimpact
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@SLAClab
SLAC
7 years
Join us on Facebook in two hours for a tour inside the clean room where we're building the 3.2-gigapixel digital camera for @LSST #DarkMatterDay
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@SLAClab
SLAC
3 years
Fulfilling a prediction of Einstein’s theory of general relativity, SLAC and @Stanford astrophysicists have reported the first-ever detection of light from behind a black hole.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
5 years
Scientists make the 1st hi-res movie of cells making crystals; the research sheds light on important biological processes, disease prevention & nanotech @NatureComms @Stanford #visionaryscience
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@SLAClab
SLAC
2 years
How it started How it’s going
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@SLAClab
SLAC
6 years
Scientists find a new way to explain how a #blackhole ’s plasma jets boost particles to the highest energies observed in the universe; the results could also prove useful for fusion & accelerator research on Earth @PhysRevLett
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@SLAClab
SLAC
1 year
We’re in for an exciting day! SLAC Director John Sarrao greeted @ENERGY @SecGranholm at SLAC where she will meet with her advisory board, tour science facilities, and address staff at a celebration of the Linac Coherent Light Source X-ray laser upgrade, LCLS-II. #OurLCLSstory
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
FACET-II is now online! Here, scientists will develop accelerator technologies for next-generation light sources and particle colliders that could enhance our understanding of ultrafast atomic processes and nature’s fundamental particles and forces.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
3 years
A new @ENERGY facility at SLAC will couple high-power and high-energy lasers with #LCLS to produce some of the most extreme conditions seen on Earth 🌏, improving our understanding of everything from fusion energy to astrophysical phenomena.💫 🤯
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
For decades SLAC and @Stanford professor Z-X Shen has ridden a wave of curiosity about the strange behavior of electrons that can levitate magnets. It's been a long road, but he says a grand scientific challenge is like a puzzle you solve one piece a time.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
1 year
🫨 Have you heard? Fermilab's Muon g-2 experiment brings particle physics closer to a showdown between theory and experiment. 🔗 Full story:
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
Picture this: an X-ray camera that snaps 1,000 atomic-level pictures per second, capturing the ultrafast movements of atoms in a sample. Our ePix10k detector does just that and is ready to advance science at #LCLS and facilities around the world.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
8 months
🛠️On a quest to understand the Higgs boson and the search for physics beyond the Standard Model, SLAC experimentalists and theorists are working to upgrade the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Read here:
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@SLAClab
SLAC
2 years
It was an honor to show @secblinken , @speakerPelosi , and @repannaeshoo a glimpse of how bold people at SLAC are working together, building tools and making discoveries that improve the world and our lives.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
3 years
📸 Scientists used our high-speed "electron camera" to capture the fleeting transition of water into a highly reactive state, directly observing a complex important in many chemical and biological processes from cancer treatment to the tails of comets. ☄️
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@SLAClab
SLAC
7 years
Scientists create first X-ray holographic images of viruses @pulse_institute @NaturePhotonics #LCLS @argonne @TUBerlin
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@SLAClab
SLAC
7 years
A superconducting X-ray laser is taking shape in Silicon Valley; the 1st of 37 cryomodules, being built by @Fermilab and @JLab_News , has arrived at SLAC to help power an upgrade to the nation’s only X-ray free-electron laser facility
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@SLAClab
SLAC
5 years
50 years ago today, @PhysRevLett published 2 articles that showed that protons are made of point-like components and proved the quark theory. SLAC’s Marty Breidenbach, then a grad student at @MIT , was on both papers and the lead author of one of them. #Quarks50
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
Scientists at @Livermore_Lab and SLAC developed a way to study matter at record pressures in the lab. What they learn could lead to a better understanding of white dwarfs, burned-out stellar cores that work as "cosmic clocks" to reveal the ages of galaxies.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
6 years
#Ultrafast manipulation of material properties with light could stimulate the development of novel electronics, including #quantum computers @NatureNews @StanfordEng @pulse_institute @Stanford
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@SLAClab
SLAC
6 years
Happy 30th anniversary to the World Wide Web; the first websites in North America were from @SLAClab in 1991 and hosted on a NeXT computer; you can still see those earliest web pages via @StanfordLibs Web Archive Portal #web30 #realimpact
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@SLAClab
SLAC
3 years
🥳SLAC is turning 60 this year (but we don't think we look a day over 59🤷). To celebrate, we're digging into our archives to look back on some of the lab's most exciting moments. Today we're reflecting on the storied life of our 2-mile-long linear accelerator, or linac for short
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@SLAClab
SLAC
6 years
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@SLAClab
SLAC
6 months
🤔 #DYK The world’s largest digital camera is preparing to ship from SLAC to @VRubinObs in Chile right now?! Well, now you do. #capturethecosmos #SLACexplains
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@SLAClab
SLAC
8 years
High-speed ‘electron camera’ captures nitrogen molecules rotating w/ shutter speed of 100 #femtoseconds #femtoweek
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@SLAClab
SLAC
7 years
X-ray scientists create tiny, super-thin sheets of flowing water (less than 100 water molecules thick) that shimmer like soap bubbles @NatureComms
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@SLAClab
SLAC
7 years
This X-ray characterization chamber, originally at @Livermore_Lab and now at SLAC, will allow researchers to watch metal #3Dprinting in real time to learn how to improve manufacturing of specialized metal parts @SSRLnews @Ames_Laboratory
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@SLAClab
SLAC
8 years
Sketching out magnetism with electricity
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
Honey we shrunk the accelerator! Scientists from SLAC and Tel Aviv University are working on a method that could make proton accelerators 100 times smaller without giving up any of their power. Check out this slideshow to see how:
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
How is a quantum critical point like a black hole? They're both singularities where all sorts of strange things can happen. Now SLAC scientists have found strong evidence of a QCP in a superconducting material; electrons act weirdly as they near it.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
3 years
Tiny magnetic whirlpools called skyrmions are spawned by electron spins, act like independent particles and could be the future of computing. X-ray laser experiments are revealing their secrets. 🤫 🤯
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@SLAClab
SLAC
5 months
📸 The world's largest digital camera traveled from SLAC in California to @VRubinObs in Chile, enduring a complex journey to capture the cosmos. Story: #SLACExplains #RubinObservatory #capturethecosmos #Astronomy #DarkMatter #DarkEnergy
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@SLAClab
SLAC
6 years
#Xray experiment confirms theoretical model for making new materials @NatureComms @BerkeleyLab @MIT @SSRLnews
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@SLAClab
SLAC
7 years
After a 6-month shutdown, experiments restart today at our #Xray laser! Getting ready to study magnetic #skyrmions at #LCLS
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@SLAClab
SLAC
3 years
“SLAC’s scientific discoveries are made possible by the diverse experiences and perspectives of our talented staff. We thank our LGBTQ+ community for their many contributions and stand together for inclusion and equity for all.” -Lab Director Chi-Chang Kao #PrideMonth #boldpeople
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
Is dark matter warm or fuzzy or something else entirely? SLAC researchers, working as part of the Dark Energy Survey, are looking at dozens of small galaxies orbiting the Milky Way to find answers.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
8 years
First shipment of magnetic devices from @BerkeleyLab arrive for our next-gen X-ray laser
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@SLAClab
SLAC
5 years
New decade, new name: The Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST) is now the @NSF Vera C. Rubin Observatory (VRO), honoring a key figure in the history of the search for #DarkMatter .
@VRubinObs
Rubin Observatory
5 years
It's official, we are now the NSF Vera C. Rubin Observatory, the first national US observatory to be named after a woman. Read the press release at We're getting ready to change our social media handles...stay tuned! #AAS235
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@SLAClab
SLAC
6 years
. @SLAClab theorist Lance Dixon and collaborators have calculated the formula for the energy-energy correlation (EEC) with more precision than ever before @PhysRevLett
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@SLAClab
SLAC
3 years
🤔 What powers the earth’s magnetic field?🌎 Join our virtual #SLACPublicLecture on Feb 3, when Ben Ofori-Okai will discuss how he uses SLAC’s X-ray laser #LCLS to get to the core of this dynamic process. Link here:
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@SLAClab
SLAC
5 years
Orange you excited for our new X-ray #laser ? These photos show some of the components that will enable beams that fire a million pulses per second, up to 10,000 times brighter than our current X-ray laser. #boldpeople #visionaryscience
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@SLAClab
SLAC
6 years
The @LSST cryostat, now fully assembled, will keep the camera’s image sensors continuously cooled to minus 150 degrees Fahrenheit for crisp, high-sensitivity views of the night skies
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@SLAClab
SLAC
3 years
✨ Calling all future scientists! ✨ Considering a career in science? Three of SLAC's Al Ashley fellows talk about their path in physics and why they encourage others to pursue their passion for STEM. #boldpeople 👩‍🔬 👨‍🔬
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@SLAClab
SLAC
4 years
SLAC research associate Adi Hanuka led the development of a new virtual diagnostic tool: a machine learning algorithm that can help optimize the performance of X-ray lasers, electron microscopes, medical accelerators and other devices.
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@SLAClab
SLAC
5 years
After blasting a molecule with light, researchers watch its structure vibrate & change in real time @NatureChemistry @BrownUniversity @EdinburghUni #LCLS #visionaryscience
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