The future SuperCDMS SNOLAB experiment will hunt for weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs), hypothetical components of dark matter. If a WIMP (white trace) strikes an atom inside the experiment's detector crystals (gray), it will cause the crystal lattice to vibrate (blue). The collision will also send electrons (red) through the crystal that enhance the vibrations.
The Accelerator Directorate fosters world leading accelerator science and technologies for future accelerators, while enabling user research and accelerator R&D programs today.
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The 600 meter long superconducting LINAC with its 750 KeV photo electron gun and 100 MeV injector provides electron beams up to 4 GeV at an unprecedented repetition rate up to nearly 1 MHz for delivery to the x-ray undulator complex.
The Facility for Advanced Acceleration Concept Experimental Tests II operates as a National User Facility while engaging a broad User community to conduct a science program based on the interaction of low-emittance high-current 10 GeV electron beams with lasers, plasmas and solids. A high-brightness photo-injector produces a 2nC electron bunch, with a planned upgrade to support 2-bunch operations in the near future. A 1km long, normal conducting s-band linear accelerator, with 3 stages of bunch compression, accelerates beams up to 10GeV and compresses them to unprecedented high peak-currents (>100kA, < 10fs). An experimental area, in Sector 20 of the linac tunnel, accommodates studies of beam driven plasma wakefield acceleration in addition to a broad program of other fundamental physics experiments, such as strong-field QED studies and the development of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence based techniques for accelerator diagnosis and control.
LINAC Coherent Light Source (LCLS) is the world's first X-ray free electron laser and has been the workhorse for the photo science at SLAC. It consists of a 6 MeV high brightness photo electron gun, 135 MeV injector, and a 1 km long normal conducting linear accelerator which can accelerate electrons up to 17 GeV. Two undulator beamlines are capable of providing photons over a range of 280 eV to 25 keV at a repetition rate of 120 Hz with individual pulse energies up to 2.5 mJ and pulse lengths as short as 1 femto-second.
The ASTA is an electron accelerator consisting of a S-band RF photogun operating at up to 360 Hz to deliver electron pulses to the MeV-UED facility and other users. The MeV-Ultrafast Electron Diffraction Facility is a powerful instrument for the study of structural dynamics in condensed-matter and chemical systems.
The Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Light source (SSRL) features the SPEAR3 3 GeV third generation storage ring and its injector complex. SSRL has been one of the most productive synchrotron radiation facilities in the world. It offers more than 30 experimental stations, supporting a variety of techniques including macromolecular crystallography, soft and hard x-ray microscopy, microXAS imaging, x-ray scattering and diffraction, photoemission spectroscopy, x-ray absorption, and emission spectroscopies.
NLCTA is an experimental facility designed to test and integrate new technologies for accelerator structures, RF systems, and instrumentation being developed for applications in advanced accelerator systems. NLCTA also hosts users from other institutions who require electron beams for various experiments.
