Tunneling for Science

摘要

Set to open in 2009, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center's Linac Coherent Light Source is expected to afford scientists a world-class setting for conducting cutting-edge research. Built in challenging geologic conditions, the project's extensive underground facilities have been designed in accordance with stringent criteria to ensure proper operation of the highly sensitive equipment. Since 1962, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (slac), in Menlo Park, California, has served as one of the world's foremost research laboratories. Operated by Stanford University for the U.S. Department of Energy, the linear accelerator, or linac, and related facilities enable researchers to conduct state-of-the-art experiments in high-energy physics and X-ray research. In 2009 the center plan's.to begin operating the Linac Coherent Light Source (lcls), the world's first X-ray free-electron laser. Emitted in the form of a laser beam, the X-rays will be 10 billion times brighter and several orders of magnitude shorter than those from any other X-ray source on earth.