LCLS
SLACLinac Coherent Light Source
LCLS News
Physicist Axel Brachmann with a vacuum transport chamber.
Physicist Axel Brachmann with a vacuum transport chamber.
by Brad Plummer
The injector for the Linac Coherent Light Source has a shiny new electron source, or cathode, thanks to a recent repair project aimed at correcting a problem that began earlier this summer. more...
The XPP instrument.
by Brad Plummer
Congratulations to the scientists and engineers of the Linac Coherent Light Source Ultrafast Science Instrumentation project, or LUSI. The team last week successfully completed Department of Energy review for Critical Decision 2, or CD2. more...
A two-person crew uses a laser to align components in the Beam Transport Hall.
by Brad Plummer
The balance of activity on the Linac Coherent Light Source project has shifted from building infrastructure to installing hardware, with all but the final construction "punch-list" items completed. The tunnels, utilities, fire suppression systems, cooling water and electrical systems are nearly ready for prime time. more...
AMO high field physics end station
by Brad Plummer
LCLS hereby invites the world’s research community to submit scientific proposals for experiments with soft X-rays at the AMO experimental station. Proposals for the first LCLS operation period (July-December 2009) must be submitted by September 1, 2008. more...
by Brad Plummer
Construction highlights from the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) this month include... more...
Inside the cavernous Far Experimental Hall.
by Brad Plummer
Construction of the Linac Coherent Lights Source (LCLS) continues at a rapid pace. Since the completion of tunneling earlier this year, crews have finished out the Far Experimental Hall and X-ray Tunnel, installed utility systems in the Central Utilities Plant and throughout the facility, and are approaching completion of the Near Experimental Hall (NEH). more...
X-rays capture the action as a tiny silicon wafer explodes.
by Brad Plummer
Flash imaging of nanoscale objects undergoing ultrafast changes is now a technical possibility, according to a recent paper published in the June 22 edition of Nature Photonics. The results are a direct precursor to research that will be conducted using SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). more...
by Brad Plummer
Construction highlights for the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) for June, 2008 include... more...
Jochen Schneider
by Brad Plummer
This month SLAC welcomes Jochen Schneider, the most recent addition to the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) team. Schneider initially came to SLAC last January as a visiting professor. His appointment as new director of the Experimental Facilities Division for the LCLS marks a big step toward making the LCLS a scientific reality. more...
More than 50 prospective users attended the LCLS AMO Workshop at SLAC this week.
by Brad Plummer
This week, more than 50 prospective Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) users arrived at SLAC for a workshop focusing on the Atomic, Molecular and Optical (AMO) science instrument. more...
by Brad Plummer
What do you get when you combine 120 concrete trucks filled with more than 1,000 cubic yards of concrete, with 350,000 pounds of steel rebar? "Happy physicists," according to Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) Conventional Facilities Manager David Saenz. more...
by Brad Plummer
When particle accelerators gave birth to the powerful X-ray microscopes known as synchrotrons, they revolutionized the study of virtually every field of science. Now the Linac Coherent Light Source promises to make an equally big leap, making movies of atoms and molecules in action and changing the way we think about matter. more...
by Brad Plummer
Construction highlights from the Linac Coherent Light Source for May, 2008 include... more...
SLAC Director Persis Drell
by Persis Drell
The Office of Science semi-annually conducts reviews of its large major projects and this week it focused on the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). Dan Lehman, the Director of the Office of Project Assessment in the Office of Science, leads this process and he arrived at SLAC with a large team of world-class scientists, engineers and management consultants to look over all aspects of the LCLS project. more...
Mike Zurawel with the LCLS undulator pedestals in End Station A.
by Brad Plummer
Installation of the first undulator pedestals for the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) is set to begin this week in the Undulator Hall. The final shipment of the stands arrived at SLAC last April from Argonne National Laboratory, where they were designed. more...
Rendering of the XPP instrument
by Brad Plummer
In preparation for the upcoming call for proposals to use the LCLS for XPP experiments, a workshop will be held at SLAC June 20-21, 2008 to inform future XPP users of the status of the LCLS and assist them with preparing their proposals for beam time. more...
3D rendering of the AMO instrument
by Brad Plummer
In preparation for the upcoming call for proposals to use the LCLS for AMO experiments, a workshop will be held at SLAC June 2-3, 2008 to inform future AMO users of the status of the LCLS and assist them with preparing their proposals for beam time. more...
3D rendering of the AMO instrument
by Brad Plummer
The AMO end-station is in the final design process, with detailed drawings of the mechanical components being produced, commercial components specified and controls and data acquisition software being designed. This process is expected to last until the summer when a review of the design will be held and procurement of components begin. more...
LCLS construction team with a set of newly arrived support stands
by Brad Plummer
Last week, trucks arrived with the first shipment of specially designed stands for Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) magnets and diagnostics to be installed in the Beam Transport Hall. This section of the LCLS, called the "linac-to-undulator," will connect the end of the linac to the undulator magnet arrays. more...
The tunnel is prepped for the final breakthrough
by Brad Plummer
The tunneling breakthrough into the Far Experimental Hall (FEH) of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) on January 14th was the culmination of months of planning and excavation work. Having begun nearly a year ago, the FEH cavern is nearly complete, with only the pouring of the concrete slab floor remaining. Once the floor is poured, construction of the experimental hutches can begin. more...
The first LCLS undulator to be mounted to its girder, undergoing coordinate measurement
by Brad Plummer
Last week, undulator work in SLAC's Magnetic Measurement Facility (MMF) for the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) entered a new chapter as workers for the first time mated an undulator with the girder to which it will eventually be mounted in the Undulator Hall (UH). more...
LCLS Director, John Galayda
by John Galayda
When the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) was first conceived in 1992, an x-ray free-electron laser was considered an expensive and technically high-risk endeavor to create a light source with unprecedented and indeed uncertain potential. Early SLAC reports describing the LCLS concept hint at its scientific potential, but not much more. more...
John Galayda addresses onlookers just after tunneling crews punched through the final few feet
by Brad Plummer
Yesterday morning a crowd of about 60 onlookers, bedecked in hard-hats and reflective vests, witnessed the final tunneling break through for construction of the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) in the dimly lit cavern of the Far Experimental Hall (FEH). more...
The Affholder Inc. second shift tunneling crew working on the LCLS
by Brad Plummer
While most of SLAC sleeps, a select group remains hard at work, driving ahead construction progress on the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS). Since last spring, tunnel contractor Affholder Inc. has used double shifts to speed ahead tunneling progress, with the second shift on the clock from 4:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. more...
SLAC Director, Persis Drell
SLAC Press Release
Menlo Park, CA—Persis S. Drell has been named director of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC), effective immediately, Stanford University President John Hennessy announced Thursday. Drell, a professor of physics at SLAC, has held a series of sen more...
A camera took this image of the LCLS beam's cross section
by Heather Rock Woods
How do you take a picture of something as thin as a strand of hair that's moving at the speed of light? more...
Inside the Near Experimental Hall crews are finishing out installation of utilities
by Brad Plummer
Construction crews working on the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) site are busier than ever these days. Last week, the Beam Transport Hall, which bisects the research yard, began receiving the final yards of concrete for the roof after being connected to the Undulator Hall. more...
A cartoon of the planned X-ray Correlation Spectroscopy Instrument
by Amber Dance
As construction continues on the experimental halls that will receive the beam from the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), the instruments that will go inside still exist only in the minds and computers of the designers. But in the past few months, those instruments are getting closer to reality. more...
Ben Poling (left) and Ed Akerstrom with the six-ton granite block Akerstrom acquired on Craigslist.
by Brad Plummer
The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) project is a collaboration that brings together components and equipment from dozens of suppliers. Last month, Craigslist.org joined that supply chain. more...
Rows of undulators rest in the Collider Hall.
by Brad Plummer
Last week, a team working with the Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) construction project repositioned dozens of undulator magnets to make room for pre-assembly of the undulator support pedestals. For months, the undulators have remained stored in wooden crates in the Collider Hall, and now the first stages leading to their installation next year are set to begin. more...
SLAC Director, Persis Drell
by Persis Drell
Pief Panofsky built a laboratory with a single purpose: to probe the fundamental structure of matter with the world’s largest electron accelerator. During his lifetime, the lab reinvented itself many times in order to stay on the frontiers of scientific discovery. more...
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