In the hills of Beijing’s Huairou District, the High Energy Photon Source (HEPS), China’s flagship fourth-generation synchrotron radiation facility, is aiming for a trial run by the end of 2025 to illuminate the atomic world with unprecedented clarity.
Spanning an area equivalent to 90 football fields, HEPS represents a multibillion-yuan investment to peer into matter, from nanomaterials to biomolecular structures.
The project, spearheaded by the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, kicked off in 2019. By March 2025, it had entered its final commissioning phase, with key milestones like a 500 MeV electron beam from the linear accelerator.
Fast-forward to July, and all 15 planned Phase I beamlines had successfully generated light, setting the stage for user operations in early 2026.
”HEPS is like a super-powered X-ray microscope,” project leaders say, capable of probing the micro-world at scales and speeds unattainable by conventional tools.
At its heart lies a state-of-the-art storage ring: a 1,360.4-meter circumference loop that circulates electrons at 6 GeV energies, producing synchrotron light up to 300 keV, according to Photonics Spectra.
What sets HEPS apart is its blistering brightness, making it the world’s most luminous light source and a trillion times brighter than a standard X-ray machine.
This ultralow emittance and high beam current enable razor-sharp imaging of atomic vibrations, chemical reactions, and material defects in real time.
”Once completed, the HEPS will ultimately accommodate up to 90 beamlines. Plans aim for 45 beamlines by 2030. The team is actively engaging with research institutes and industry to secure funding for continued beamline construction” – CGTN
Phase II, already soliciting proposals for cutting-edge beamlines and methodologies, aims to tackle national priorities in aerospace, nanotechnology, and biomedicine.
For researchers, HEPS isn’t just an upgrade; it’s a game-changer. ”It will drive breakthroughs in new materials and industrial innovation,” notes IHEP, building on China’s growing synchrotron generations: from the first in Beijing to the third in Shanghai.
Professor Pan Weimin from IHEP, director of the HEPS project, tells China Daily:
”HEPS can assist researchers in completing previously impossible tasks across fields from aerospace and nanotechnology to biomedicine and new materials development”.
Early beamline tests, like the Hard X-ray Imaging setup, have already revealed microstructures in engineering alloys that could revolutionise everything from battery tech to drug delivery.
| Aspect | HEPS (China) | LHC (CERN) |
|---|---|---|
| Type | Synchrotron light source (electrons for X-rays) | Hadron collider (protons/ions for particle smashes) |
| Ring Size | 1.36 km circumference | 27 km circumference (underground tunnel) |
| Energy | 6 GeV electron beam | 6.5 TeV per proton beam (13 TeV collisions) |
| Key Capacity | rightness: >10²² photons/s/mm²/mrad²/0.1%BW | Luminosity: Up to 2×10³⁴ interactions/cm²/s; collision energy for new physics |
| Footprint | ~90 football fields (surface) | 175 m deep tunnel spanning the France-Switzerland border |
| Purpose | Atomic/molecular imaging, materials R&D | Hunting fundamental particles (e.g., Higgs boson) |
- The LHC is built for smashing particles at energies mimicking the Big Bang.
- HEPS is compact and surface-based, optimised for generating coherent X-rays rather than collisions, think microscope versus microscope on steroids, versus a cosmic demolition derby.
Where the LHC probes the universe’s building blocks at tera-electronvolt scales, HEPS excels in ”soft” science: its trillion-fold brightness boost allows unprecedented views of life’s machinery, like protein folding or catalyst reactions.
CERN’s machine hunts Higgs bosons; HEPS hunts the next green revolution. As HEPS powers up, it cements China’s ascent in big science, complementing facilities worldwide rather than competing head-on. With trial runs imminent, expect a flood of discoveries.
Sources: CGTN, China Daily, HEPS, Photonics Spectra