Feature Articles

Upgrading a particle accelerator is a lot like modernizing a house. It just requires extra teamwork, a mountain of parts and a highly specialized understanding of the physics and technology that make accelerators work.

The ePix series of detectors is designed to keep pace with ever more demanding experiments at SLAC and elsewhere.

This month marks the 30-year anniversary of the first website in North America, launched at SLAC. In this Q&A, one of the Wizards recalls the motivation that spawned the development and how it has changed the work of scientists.

Spawned by the spins of electrons in magnetic materials, these tiny whirlpools behave like independent particles and could be the future of computing. Experiments with SLAC’s X-ray laser are revealing their secrets.

More than half a century after the Woodward-Hoffmann rules, an important set of organic chemistry rules, were formulated, SLAC scientists imaged a reaction and observed how a molecule transforms as predicted by these rules, directly confirming the theory for the first time.

Each year, college graduates with a passion for STEM come to the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory to get hands-on experience through the Alonzo W. Ashley Fellowship Program. The program is named in honor of Al Ashley (1935-2019), who worked 31 years at the lab, championing diversity in the sciences and engineering. Supported by the efforts of the lab’s Committee for Outreach, Recruitment and Engagement (CORE) employee resource group and administered and partly funded by Human Resources, the program aims to bridge education and professional work experience for underrepresented groups. Here you will meet three of the current fellows and learn about their passion for physics, their work at SLAC and their advice on pursuing careers in STEM.

Researchers at the Department of Energy’s SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have demonstrated that they can use machine learning to optimize the performance of particle accelerators by teaching the algorithms the basic physics principles behind accelerator operations – no prior data needed.

The agreement, announced today, will make it easier for researchers to change their names and claim work from all stages of their careers. It specifically addresses the administrative and emotional difficulties some transgender researchers have experienced when requesting such name changes.