Stanford Linear Accelerator

Guide Note

The Stanford Linear Accelerator is the world's largest and most powerful linear particle accelerator. It uses electricity to accelerate and collide subatomic particles. The device is located in the Stanford Linear Acelerator Center, a scientific research facility operated by Stanford University and overseen by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Fast Facts

1. Built in 1962
2. Accelerator is two miles long
3. Longest linear accelerator in the world
4. Composed of about 100,000 precision-made pieces
5. Entire device is aligned to within twenty-thousandths of an inch¹
6. Facility director Neil Calder described it as "the world's straightest object"²
7. Uses microwave radiation to speed up electrons
8. Generates an electric field of about 30 billion volts
9. Has contributed to three Nobel Prizes in Physics¹