Breakthrough made in China’s first high-energy light source marking an important milestone in scientific progress.
China has reached a major scientific milestone by successfully storing high-energy electron beams with a beam current exceeding 10 milliamperes in the High Energy Photon Source (HEPS) storage ring. This achievement, made on Sunday, marks significant progress in completing the construction of the accelerator for the light source.
The High Energy Photon Source, a key national scientific infrastructure project, is being built at Huairou Science City in Beijing and is expected to be fully operational by the end of next year.
Once operational, it will be China’s first high-energy light source and one of the brightest fourth-generation synchrotron radiation facilities globally, capable of emitting light that is 1 trillion times brighter than the sun, according to the Institute of High Energy Physics, a branch of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
The ultrabright light generated by the photon source will meet the urgent need for high-energy X-rays in advanced research across various fields, including aerospace, energy, environmental sciences, and life sciences, the institute stated.
Pan Weimin, the project director, noted that the commissioning of the storage ring began on July 23, following the completion of fabrication, installation, and joint conditioning of all its equipment.
“During the initial phase of beam commissioning, the storage ring consists of 1,776 magnets, over 2,500 power supply devices, 578 electron beam position monitors, 1,360 meters of vacuum chambers, and more than 100,000 control signals,” Pan explained. “Even minor hardware issues, such as obstructions or equipment misalignment, can affect the trajectory of the electron beam.”
Pan also pointed out the specific challenges presented by the photon source, including the use of two Lambertson magnets for injection and extraction, with a vertical physical semi-aperture of only 2 to 3 millimeters. “This presents a significant challenge for beam commissioning,” he noted.
The scientific team has been continuously working on the commissioning process, operating 24/7 with only brief pauses for hardware adjustments. On Sunday, they successfully achieved an electron beam current of 12 milliamperes, a hundredfold increase from the levels reached just a week earlier.
Jiao Yi, deputy head of the High Energy Photon Source accelerator division, mentioned that commissioning will continue over the next few months, focusing on achieving higher beam currents with sufficiently long lifetimes to facilitate vacuum conditioning and beamline commissioning.
Pan stated that the ultimate goal is to reach a beam current of 200mA
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