China's heavy ion accelerator enters trial operation

China's High Intensity Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility (HIAF), a major national scientific infrastructure project located in Huizhou, south China's Guangdong Province, passed its process acceptance review on Tuesday, marking the completion of all construction targets and the facility's transition to trial operation for scientific research.

Organized by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the acceptance signifies that the facility is ready to begin supporting cutting-edge research in nuclear physics and related disciplines.

The HIAF is designed around three primary scientific goals: exploring the limits of atomic nuclei, revealing the astrophysical processes behind the formation of heavy elements, and advancing nuclear energy technologies and multidisciplinary applications.

The facility accelerates various types of ions to extremely high speeds before directing them to collide with atomic nuclei. These experiments allow scientists to probe the structure and behavior of atomic nuclei, attempt the synthesis of new superheavy elements, and investigate how heavy elements such as uranium are formed in the universe.

Beyond fundamental research, the accelerator can simulate extreme environments, including space radiation and fusion conditions, supporting the development of heavy ion cancer therapy, advanced materials and next-generation nuclear energy technologies. It is also expected to serve as a key experimental platform for fields including aerospace and biomedicine.

HIAF is the world's first advanced heavy ion research facility to combine a superconducting linear accelerator, a synchrotron and a storage ring. The design integrates the high continuous beam intensity of a superconducting linear accelerator with the high pulsed beam intensity of a synchrotron, providing researchers with greater experimental capability.

After years of research and development, the project team achieved independent development and localization of its key equipment and core software. The team also completed beam commissioning along the facility's two-kilometer beamline in just 16 hours, setting a new international record for beam commissioning speed among comparable facilities.

During the commissioning phase, the accelerator achieved record beam intensities for both oxygen and bismuth ions, exceeding the previous world benchmarks by three times and 7.5 times, respectively. Researchers have already reported a series of achievements in areas including nuclear mass measurements, radioactive beam production, nuclear structure research and irradiation studies of nuclear materials.

Construction of HIAF began in December 2018, and the facility generated its first beam in October 2025.