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SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory

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This is an article about the particle physics research facility. For other uses of SLAC, see SLAC (disambiguation).

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.[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."[2] SLAC's meeting facilities 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.

Aerial photo of the Stanford Linear Accelerator
Aerial photo of the Stanford Linear Accelerator

History

Founded in 1962, the facility is located on 1.72 square kilometer (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.[1]

File:SLACKlysGallery.gif
SLAC 3 kilometer (1.9 mile) long Klystron Gallery above the beam line Accelerator

Research at SLAC has produced three Nobel Prizes in Physics:

Also, SSRL was "indispensable" in the research leading to the 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. [6]

In the early-to-mid 90's, the Stanford Linear Collider or SLC, investigated the properties of the Z boson using the SLAC Large Detector.

PEP-II and SSRL

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 Since 1998 SLAC has been providing electron-positron collisions to the 2.2km dual storage rings for the BaBar Experiment in order to study charge-parity symmetry. The laboratory is the site of a number of National User Facilities, including the B-Factory. PEP-II is used in conjunction with the BaBar detector located at interaction area (IR2), or twelve o'clock from the LINAC.

SSRL is a synchrotron light user facility located on the SLAC campus. Previously the ring was used in experiments where the J/Psi particle was discovered, it is now used exclusively for synchrotron light experiments.

Injectors

(PEP-II) uses the main LINAC injector while the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory or (SSRL) SPEAR3 has its own independent injector for research. In the mid to late 1980's funding became available to add the SPEAR injector to cutoff parasitic dependency from the main LINAC.

Other discoveries

  • SLAC has also been instrumental in the development of the klystron, a high-power microwave amplification tube.
  • There was a Paleoparadoxia found at the SLAC site, and its skeleton can be seen at a small museum there in the Breezeway.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b 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.
  2. ^ Saracevic, Alan T. "Silicon Valley: It's where brains meet bucks." San Francisco Chronicle 23 October 2005. p J2. Accessed 24 October 2005.
  3. ^ Nobel Prize in Physics 1976. Half prize awarded to Burton Richter.
  4. ^ Nobel Prize in Physics 1990 Award split between Jerome I. Friedman, Henry W. Kendall, and Richard E. Taylor.
  5. ^ Nobel Prize in Physics 1995 Half prize awarded to Martin L. Perl.
  6. ^ 2006 Nobel Prize in Chemistry : Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory at SLAC Contributes
  7. ^ Stanford's SLAC Paleoparadoxia much thanks to Adele Panofsky, Dr. Panofsky's wife, for her reassembly of the bones of the Paleoparadoxia uncovered at SLAC.
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