Located on 430 acres of Stanford land in the foothills south of Sand Hill Road, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) has been exploring the makeup of matter since 1962.
The heart of SLAC is the linear accelerator, which speeds electrons through a two-mile tube at nearly the speed of light. As they crash into other particles at a target, scientists can study the basic structure and behavior of matter.
Five scientists have been awarded Nobel Prizes for research done at SLAC.
SLAC is almost entirely funded by the Department of Energy, and operated by Stanford under contract.
Over the years, SLAC has expanded its staff and its research. It now employs 1,500 people; some 3,000 scientists from around the world conduct research at SLAC every year.
Research at SLAC falls into three major areas that range from studying the smallest of particles to the whole universe:
• Photon science: The Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL) uses high-energy X-rays emitted by electrons rotating inside a ring to study different materials. Practical experiments have included studies leading to designer drugs, pollution-control equipment, treatment for osteoporosis, and — this year — new pages from Archimedes.
• Particle physics: BaBar is the world’s largest experiment examining the difference between matter and anti-matter, according to public information officer Neil Calder. Six hundred physicists from 11 countries study the results of collisions between B-mesons and anti-B mesons spinning in opposite directions around an underground ring.
• The universe: The new Kavli Institute for Particle Astrophysics and Cosmology (KIPAC) is expanding SLAC’s research on particles to the scale of the universe, with research on the dark matter and dark energy that make up most of the universe.
SLAC is also engaged in a major new project. Bulldozers are preparing for the official groundbreaking in late October of a breakthrough X-Ray source.
The Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS) will the world’s first free electron X-ray laser. This will produce high-energy X-rays that are coherent and with identical wavelength, leading to the ability to do research at even smaller distances and shorter times. It will open in 2009.
Scientists at SLAC are also collaborating with an international group to plan the next-generation linear accelerator. To be called the International Linear Collider, it will also be an electron accelerator, but 40 miles long. “It won’t be here,” said Mr. Calder
— Marion Softky
INFORMATION
Tours of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) can be arranged by calling Maura Chatwell at 926-4931. Lots of information on SLAC and its projects are available on the Web. For starters, try: slac.stanford.edu; archimedespalimpsest.org; and exploratorium.edu for a Webcast on the Archimedes palimpsest.The History Channel will include a section on the Archimedes Palimpsest in its program Wednesday, Oct. 4, at 10 p.m. The program, “Modern Marvels,” focuses on the history of ink, starting 3,000 years ago in China.
