China unveils milestone heavy-ion accelerator to unravel universe’s secrets
新闻台署名 来源：新华社、《黎明报》、《阿拉伯新闻》、阿纳多卢通讯社与《分钟镜报》。由 GSRRA 编辑部翻译并节选。
China on Tuesday kicked off trial operations for the High Intensity Heavy-ion Accelerator Facility (HIAF) following its completion and official technological acceptance, marking a major milestone in the nation’s quest to unlock the secrets of the universe’s fundamental building blocks.
According to Professor Yang Jiancheng, deputy director of the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and chief engineer of the HIAF project, this internationally leading mega-science facility, located in Huizhou, south China’s Guangdong Province, is equipped with the world’s highest pulsed heavy-ion beam intensity and the most precise ring spectrometer for nuclear mass measurement. It will serve as a powerful tool for scientists to explore the limits of atomic nuclei, reveal nuclear astrophysical processes, and advance nuclear energy development and multidisciplinary applications.
As a key national mega-science project built by the IMP, HIAF successfully generated its first beam in October 2025 following a seven-year construction period.
Yang explained that the high-speed heavy ions generated by the facility act as “microscopic cannonballs” that smash into targets, creating extreme conditions of high temperature and pressure.
During recent commissioning experiments, it achieved unprecedented intensity levels for both oxygen and bismuth ion beams, surpassing the previous international records by 3.0 times and 7.5 times, respectively.
In terms of fundamental research, HIAF will help scientists find the boundaries of atomic nuclei. It can simulate extreme environments such as the interiors of stars, supernova explosions, and the early stages of the Big Bang, aiding in the exploration of the deep structure of matter, said Yang.
On the application front, HIAF can be used to test the radiation resistance of spacecraft, drive nuclear energy development, and facilitate the research of functional materials. In the medical field, the facility will significantly advance heavy-ion cancer therapy and the development of novel medical isotope drugs.
Reference Link:- https://english.news.cn/20260721/ea6921e3539442828aa182517c1fdd1f/c.html
Zamir Ahmed Awan is the founder and Chair of the Global Silk Route Research Alliance, a think tank in Islamabad. He studied engineering at Shanghai University in the 1980s, and years later he went back to China as Pakistan's science counsellor in Beijing, from 2010 until 2016, working on science and higher education cooperation between the two countries.…
