Exotic Material Shows Promise as Flexible, Transparent Electrode
X-rays Reveal How Soil Bacteria Carry Out Surprising Chemistry
From the Director of Photon Science: What’s In a Name?
An organization’s name evokes images about what it does and what it represents. In SLAC’s Photon Science Directorate, we would like our name to more accurately reflect our scientific activities and aspirations. ... We think our name should signify the range of exciting activities in the Photon Science Directorate. Let us know what you think ...
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Word of the Week: Optogenetics
Introducing Synchrotrons into the High School Classroom
Field-driven Polarization and Domain Dynamics of Ferroelectric/Dielectric Superlattices
Investigating Extreme States of Matter by X-ray Absorption Spectroscopy
From the Director of SSRL: An Ultimate Storage Ring and the Future of Light Sources
Earlier this month, lab Director Persis Drell, Accelerator Directorate Deputy Director Bob Hettel, Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) Scientific Advisor Jerry Hastings and I attended a meeting in Grenoble, France, to discuss the concept of an Ultimate Storage Ring (USR), a light source designed to produce brighter X-ray beams than current synchrotrons can offer.
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SSRL Worker who Keeps Instruments Cool Among Spot Award Winners
They may not realize it, but one of the SLAC employees SSRL users count on is Paul Grunow. Part of his job is to keep the SSRL’s monochromators up and running. A monochromator is an optical instrument that selects a single X-ray frequency (hence, mono) from a beam that includes many frequencies (or colors, from chroma) for use in experiments.
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SSRL Symposium Pays Tribute to Pioneering Scientist
Last week more than 70 scientists from Europe, Japan and all over the United States came for a one-day symposium celebrating the life and work of Hirotsugu Tsuruta, a senior scientist at Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource who passed away last August at the age of 49. Tsuruta, who joined SSRL in 1991, was a driving force behind the development of Beam Line 4-2 ...
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French Popular-Science Magazine Calls SLAC Research Magnifique!
The French popular-science magazine La Recherche ("Research") listed the discovery at SLAC of chemical traces of pigment in a bird fossil as a top 10 discovery in 2011. Researchers examined the remains of Confuciusornis sanctus, which lived 120 million years ago, at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource.
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SLAC Teamwork Doesn't Take a Vacation
On Dec. 16, the final work day before the winter shutdown, SLAC Chief Operating Officer Sandy Merola sent an email urging everyone who could to ”take time off and enjoy the holidays." Quite a few had already taken the words to heart, turning the campus into a ghost town. Then, operators for SPEAR3, the storage ring for the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, noticed a problem ...
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Seen Around SLAC: We Have Lift Off
A damaged klystron took a short flight out from the center of the SPEAR3 booster ring at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource last week, courtesy of a new, 7-ton-capacity crane.
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A damaged klystron took a short flight out from the center of the SPEAR3 booster ring at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource last week, courtesy of a new, 7-ton-capacity crane.
Seen Around SLAC: "the House that Axel Built"
Tucked behind the control area for Beamline 9-2 at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource, between an elevator and an old metal cabinet, is a plaque. The inscription reads, "The Sixth Addition to the House that Axel Built – 1994." Below that, four coins – a dime and three pennies – are set into the plaque's dark surface.
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Dinosaurs, Space-shuttles and Synchrotrons
SLAC Scientists Study How Nature Cleans Uranium from Colorado Aquifer
Rifle, Colorado, is a small town on the Colorado River, in the heart of the Rocky Mountains, that's big on natural resources. It attracts hunters, fishermen, hikers, rock climbers.But it's a below-ground natural resource – uranium – that draws the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource's John Bargar to the area.
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From the Director: Good News to Start the New Year
Just before we closed for the holidays Congress passed a budget. That by itself is excellent news. Having a budget removes tremendous uncertainty for both our projects and operations, and we will not have the seesaw of drama that we had last spring with the long continuing resolution and threats of a government shutdown.
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