China's light source facility accelerates first electron beam

The linear accelerator of China's high-energy synchrotron radiation light source successfully accelerated its first electron beam on Tuesday, its builder has announced.

The light source, the High Energy Photon Source (HEPS), is a major science infrastructure project in China built by the Institute of High Energy Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

HEPS is like a supersized X-ray machine, with the ability to accelerate electrons to near the speed of light through three stages and generate synchrotron radiation, which features strong penetrability and a high level of brightness, thus helping researchers observe microcosms.

Three separate accelerators -- a linear accelerator, a storage ring and a booster -- form the main part of HEPS. The linear accelerator, which is approximately 49 meters long, is the first-stage accelerator and can generate and accelerate electrons to 500 MeV. It has laid a solid foundation for the construction of the other two accelerators.

HEPS is expected to become one of the brightest fourth-generation synchrotron radiation facilities worldwide after its construction is complete, and it will serve fields such as advanced materials, aerospace and biomedicine.