China's new synchrotron radiation facility achieves first beam

The linear accelerator of the Hefei Advanced Light Facility (HALF) successfully generated and delivered an electron beam on Sunday, marking a key step forward in the construction of the world's most advanced fourth-generation synchrotron radiation facility in the low-energy range.

Located in Hefei, capital city of east China's Anhui Province, the institution is a fourth-generation synchrotron radiation facility operating at a designed energy of 2.2 gigaelectronvolts (GeV) and based on diffraction-limited storage ring technology.

It is also a major national science and technology infrastructure project in China.

By generating highly intense and coherent light, the facility will serve as a "super microscope" for scientists to probe the microscopic structure of matter.

Compared with third-generation synchrotron radiation sources, HALF is expected to produce soft X-rays with more than 100 times higher brightness and coherence.

It will enable the development of experimental techniques with greater precision and sensitivity in the spatial, temporal and energy domains, providing an important research platform for studying microscopic particle behavior, the structure of light elements and changes in the electronic, chemical and spin states of materials.

"Successful beam generation and delivery means that we have taken a key step toward the ultimate goal.

The electron beam produced by the linear accelerator is the source of synchrotron radiation.

Its beam quality, stability and reliability directly affect the performance of the storage ring and the downstream beamlines and experiments," said He Zhigang, chief engineer of the injector system.

The project will next enter a critical stage of commissioning, during which the electron beam will be injected into the storage ring.

The facility will gradually move toward full-system commissioning and stable operation, He said.

Once completed, HALF will become an internationally advanced fourth-generation synchrotron radiation facility in the low-energy range and complement existing synchrotron radiation sources in China by covering a different energy range.

It is expected to provide an experimental platform for cutting-edge research in materials science, life sciences and energy science, and contribute to research in areas including high-temperature superconductivity, new energy batteries, aerospace, biomedicine and advanced materials.

According to He, once completed, HALF will be open to scientists from both China and abroad, providing a shared research platform for advanced studies in fields such as quantum information, energy, environment and life sciences.