China Steps up Accelerator ResearchChina is stepping up research of particle accelerator on its own, according to reports from the ongoing 2nd Asia Accelerator Conference. It is said that the Institute of High Energy Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences is making an active effort in design and research of positive-negative electron impinging machine in Beijing, and hopes for a 100-fold increase in the brightness of the machine.Zhang Chuang, deputy director of the CAS Physics Institute said that accelerator uses electromagnetic field to speed up the device of charged particle. As a "bomb" to break atomic nucleus, it came to be used in nuclear physics in the 1930s. Particle accelerator is developing toward high-energy, high-property and wider application field. The three accelerators -- positive-negative impinging machine in Beijing, ion accelerator in Lanzhou and synchrotron radiation in Hefei -- built during the 8th Five-year Plan period have provided high-property experimental means for scientific research and have come to claim bountiful success in high-energy physics and nuclear physics. In the discovery of new nuclide and precise measurement of lepton quality, China has been elevated to a world advanced level in this field. Accelerator has been widely used in various fields in national economy. In agricultural field, it can be used for getting improved seed strains, elimination of disease, food freshness keeping. In medical field, it is employed for remedying cancer, disinfection, and production of short-life isotope. In energy field, accelerator can be used to generate clean nuclear fuel. Present at the conference are more than 400 accelerator experts from Asian and European countries and the US, sponsored by the Institute of High Energy Physics. In the coming five days, participants will further sit for a discussion and research on a sundry of accelerators. By PD Online Staff Li Yan |
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