Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS)

Photo: Dawn Harmer – SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), at SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory (SLAC), is an Office of Science User Facility operated by Stanford University on behalf of the US Department of Energy.

LCLS generates X-ray pulses a billion times brighter than previously available at synchrotrons, with pulselengths ranging from 0.2 to 200 femtoseconds (quadrillionths of a second) — a timescale on which the motion of atoms can be seen and tracked. The unprecedented brightness enables completely new areas of science, revealing fundamental processes in quantum materials, chemical dynamics, energy technology and living matter.

The LCLS x-ray laser beam has inherently high spatial coherence, and can be seeded to provide temporal coherence over most of its operating energy range, opening up a wide array of diagnostic techniques for probing inhomogeneous and transient systems with exquisite spatial and temporal resolution.

• LCLS is open to international researchers without charge, hosting more than a thousand scientists each year.
• LCLS-II is due to come online to users in 2020/2021.

Latest News From LCLS

• LCLS-II ushers in a new era of science 2023/09/18
• SLAC researchers take important step toward developing cavity-based X-ray laser technology 2023/08/15
• Elusive missing step in the final act of photosynthesis 2023/05/03