Within these pages readers will find a description of the many areas of research at SLAC. These research activities are led by the SLAC faculty and are open to graduate students interested in participating in these projects for research and possible thesis topics.
The scientific atmosphere at the Laboratory is very stimulating and supportive. Members of the SLAC community work closely with scientist from all over the world of all professional levels who come to use our facilities. Graduate students who work at SLAC develop friendships and life-long contacts with peers and colleagues across this nation and from around the world. The technical staff at SLAC provides the services and support that make the scientific endeavors possible. You, as a scientific collaborator in our research, can benefit from the technical support we provide to assist you in your scientific goals.
The range of experimental work in elementary particle physics is very broad: studies of the Z 0 boson, the charm and beauty (bottom) quarks, and the tau lepton; precise studies of the interaction of electrons with nucleons; and observational studies in particle astrophysics and gravitation. In elementary particle theory, our research includes weak interactions, quantum thermodynamics, string theory, unified theories, particle astrophysics, and cosmology.
Since its beginning in the 1960s, SLAC has been a world leader in the physics, technology, and construction of electron accelerators, linear accelerators, storage rings for synchrotron radiation, and electron-positron colliders. At present, we are operating the first of a new class of electron-positron colliders called a linear collider. At the time of this writing, we are constructing on our site a new type of asymmetric electron-positron circular collider (PEP-II) to study the physics of the beauty quark and the fundamental phenomenon of the violation of CP symmetry. Over the years, SLAC has made many contributions towards the development of the Standard Model of particle physics.
A division of SLAC, the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL), operates the SPEAR storage ring as a source of intense vacuum ultraviolet and x-ray beams for research in biology, chemical engineering, chemistry, electrical engineering, environmental sciences, geochemistry, materials science, medicine, molecular environmental science, and physics.
SSRL is a national, multi-user facility that can support researchers at over 25 experimental stations simultaneously. We annually attract over 1100 users from around the world who conduct research in a number of areas including basic materials physics, structural and molecular biology, molecular environmental science, and accelerator physics. This diversity of fields and users makes SSRL an exciting, dynamic environment in which to work. Recent measurements at SSRL include photoelectron spectroscopy of high-temperature superconductors; time-resolved protein crystallography; determination of the structure of amorphous thin films; x-ray spectroscopic studies of the structure of active sites in metalloenzymes involved in nitrogen fixation and in bioremediation; and studies of chemical species in nuclear waste and in soils contaminated by toxic metals.
All of these facilities are available for research toward graduate degrees
by Stanford students. SLAC does not accept students directly; rather, graduate
students doing research at SLAC come from individual Stanford departments
such as Physics, Applied Physics, Chemistry, Electrical Engineering, Geological
and Environmental Sciences, and Mechanical Engineering. SLAC research assistantships
are available for qualified students by arrangement with individual SLAC
faculty members, and with the approval of the student’s department.