Beijing, China — China’s groundbreaking High Energy Photon Source (HEPS), a flagship synchrotron radiation facility, is on track to begin trial operations by the end of 2025, according to the project team.
The HEPS is poised to become a fourth-generation synchrotron radiation facility boasting the world’s highest brightness. Developed by the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, it will serve as a cutting-edge research platform for material science, chemical engineering, biomedicine, and other fields.
Acting like a super-powered “X-ray microscope,” the HEPS allows scientists to “see” the micro-world in unprecedented detail. Since breaking ground in Beijing’s suburban Huairou District in 2019, the facility has achieved significant construction milestones. All 15 planned Phase I beamlines have generated light, Pan Weimin, director of the HEPS project, told Xinhua on Wednesday.
Once completed, the HEPS will accommodate up to 90 beamlines, with plans to have 45 beamlines operational by 2030. The team is actively collaborating with research institutes and industry partners to secure funding for continued beamline construction and to address critical experimental demands, Pan said.
China now possesses all four generations of synchrotron radiation sources, with the first and fourth generations both located in Beijing, the second generation in Hefei, Anhui Province, and the third generation in Shanghai.
As China’s first high-energy fourth-generation source, the HEPS promises to revolutionize research in areas like solid-state batteries, high-temperature superconductors, and drug discovery, thanks to its unparalleled brightness and coherence.
“The HEPS will leverage the experience gained from previous facilities and focus on national strategic needs, industrial innovation, and scientific frontiers,” Pan added.
