Stanford Linear Accelerator Center

SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory is a U.S. Department of Energy research center operated by Stanford University. Founded in 1962, it houses a two-mile linear accelerator and conducts research in particle physics, photon science, and related fields.

Linear accelerator: A particle accelerator that uses a sequence of electric fields to propel charged particles along a straight path. SLAC’s signature two-mile machine is a linear accelerator.
SLAC Large Detector: A particle detector used at the Stanford Linear Collider to study electron–positron collisions. It enabled precision studies of the Z boson and tests of the Standard Model.
William W. Hansen: An American physicist who helped establish microwave technology and accelerator research at Stanford. His work laid technical and institutional foundations for Stanford’s later accelerator program.
Quark model: A model describing hadrons as particles composed of quarks and antiquarks. SLAC’s deep-inelastic scattering experiments supplied decisive evidence for point-like constituents inside protons.
Burton Richter: An American physicist who led the SLAC group that discovered the J/ψ meson. Richter’s SPEAR experiments produced one of SLAC’s defining particle-physics discoveries.
Particle physics: The study of fundamental particles and the forces governing their interactions. SLAC’s accelerator experiments have tested the structure and interactions of matter.
Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource: A synchrotron light source at SLAC that provides X-rays for scientific experiments. It supplies researchers with X-rays for studying materials, molecules, and biological structures.
Robert B. Leighton: An American physicist who led the early design and construction of the Stanford Linear Accelerator. He directed the project that turned the proposed two-mile accelerator into an operating facility.
Charm quark: A quark flavor with electric charge +2/3 and a mass greater than up, down, and strange quarks. The 1974 discovery of the J/ψ particle at SLAC helped establish the charm quark.
Martin Perl: An American physicist who discovered the tau lepton in experiments at SLAC. His work at SLAC revealed a third charged lepton, expanding the known particle families.

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