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This article is about the particle physics research facility. For other uses of SLAC, see SLAC (disambiguation).
SLAC at Stanford University
The Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) is a United States Department of Energy National Laboratory operated by Stanford University under the programmatic direction of the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. The SLAC research program centers on experimental and theoretical research in elementary particle physics using electron beams and a broad program of research in atomic and solid-state physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine using synchrotron radiation.
U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science. Review of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center Integrated Safety Management System: Final Report. Washington: GPO, October 2005. p. 1.
The 3.2-kilometer (2.0-mile) long underground accelerator is the longest linear accelerator in the world, and is claimed to be "the world\'s straightest object."
Saracevic, Alan T. "Silicon Valley: It\'s where brains meet bucks." San Francisco Chronicle 23-October-2005. p J2. Accessed 2005-10-24.
SLAC\'s meeting facilities also provided a venue for the homebrew computer club and other pioneers of the 1980s home computer revolution, and later SLAC hosted the first webpage in the U.S. The above-ground klystron gallery atop the beamline is the longest building in the United States.
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Aerial photo of the Stanford Linear Accelerator
Founded in 1962, the facility is located on 1.72 square-kilometers (426 acres) of Stanford University-owned land on Sand Hill Road in Menlo Park, California—just west from the University\'s main campus. The main accelerator, a 3.2-kilometer-long RF linear accelerator, which can accelerate electrons and positrons up to 50 GeV, has been operational since 1966. It is buried 10 metres (30 feet) below ground and passes underneath Interstate 280. As of 2005, SLAC employs over 1,000 people, some 150 of which are physicists with doctorate degrees, and serves over 3,000 visiting researchers yearly, operating particle accelerators for high-energy physics and the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL) for synchrotron light radiation research.
Research at SLAC has produced three Nobel Prizes in Physics:
SLAC 3-kilometer (1.9-mile) long Klystron Gallery above the beam line Accelerator
Also, SSRL was "indispensable" in the research leading to the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry : Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory at SLAC Contributes
In the early-to-mid 90s, the Stanford Linear Collider or SLC, investigated the properties of the Z boson using the Stanford Large Detector.
Since 1999 the main purpose of the linear accelerator has been to inject electrons and positrons into the PEP-II accelerator, an electron-positron collider with a pair of storage rings 2.2km in circumference. PEP-II is host to the BaBar experiment, one of the so-called B-Factory experiments studying charge-parity symmetry.
SSRL is a synchrotron light user facility located on the SLAC campus. Originally built for particle physics, it was used in experiments where the J/Ψ particle particle was discovered. It is now used exclusively for materials science and biology experiments which take advantage of the high-intensity, monochromatic synchrotron radiation emitted by the stored electron beam to study the structure of molecules. In the 1980s, an independent electron injector was built for this storage ring, allowing it to operate independently of the main linear accelerator.
SLAC plays host to part of the GLAST project, a collaborative international project also known as The Gamma Ray Large Area Space Telescope, the principle objectives of which are:
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Artificial Intelligence Laboratory • Center for Entrepreneurial Studies • Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics • Center for the Study of Language and Information • Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies • Hoover Institution • Hopkins Marine Station • Jasper Ridge Biological Preserve • Stanford Humanities Center • Stanford Linear Accelerator Center • Stanford University Medical Center • Stegner Fellowship • |
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