◎ Our reporter Lu Chengkuan
What should Southern Advanced Light Source be built as a major national science and technology infrastructure? What services do universities in Hong Kong and Macao hope to provide by the South Advanced Light Source? How will Southern Advanced Light Source promote the development of Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area? On May 21, the South Advanced Light Source Seminar in Hong Kong and Macao was held. Experts from seven well-known universities in Hong Kong and Macao gathered together to discuss how to promote Guangdong, Hong Kong and Macao to jointly build the South Advanced Light Source in an innovative mode, give full play to the advantages of Hong Kong and Macao in terms of innovation ability and international influence, and realize the high-level construction and operation of large scientific devices, Promote the output and transformation of scientific and technological achievements.
The South Advanced Light Source is the fourth generation diffraction limited synchrotron radiation light source to be built in the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area. Its beam emittance and brightness will reach the international leading level in its energy region. The synchrotron radiation light source is like a "searchlight" for observing the microstructure of materials, which can produce "full and bright" X-ray, "see clearly" the static composition and dynamic evolution of the material structure, thus promoting the development of materials science, chemical engineering, energy, environment, biomedicine and other fields.
"Both the synchrotron radiation light source and the spallation neutron source are ideal 'probes' for studying the microstructure of materials, and their advantages complement each other." Wang Sheng, deputy director of the Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, introduced that in 2018, China's spallation neutron source had been built and operated efficiently in Dongguan, Guangdong Province, and the planned advanced southern light source was adjacent to the construction of China's spallation neutron source, It can play the effect of "one plus one is greater than two".
"The two devices will form a world-class research center, form a large scientific device cluster supporting the comprehensive national science center in the Greater Bay Area, further enhance the agglomeration effect, and enhance the basic research capacity of the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area," said Wang Sheng.
At the seminar, experts shared their scientific research needs for advanced light sources in South China in their respective research fields. They said that the construction of the South Advanced Light Source can lead the technological innovation of related disciplines, promote interdisciplinary research and output of achievements, and enhance the position of the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area and even China in the global scientific and technological innovation pattern.
"There are many scientific research teams and a deep industrial foundation in the Greater Bay Area. The planning and construction of the Southern Advanced Light Source will fully combine user needs, form a differentiated positioning, and give better play to the supporting role of large scientific devices in related fields through technology and service innovation." In the opinion of Hao Quan, a researcher at the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the users of the Greater Bay Area have a "near water tower" China's spallation neutron source and the completed South Advanced Light Source Research Platform will help the output of high-level scientific research achievements in Hong Kong and Macao, and promote the development and innovation of science and technology in Hong Kong and Macao.
In order to promote the preliminary work of the South Advanced Light Source, the Institute of High Energy Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences has built the South Light Source Research and Test Platform to carry out the prefabrication research of key core technologies; The Southern Advanced Light Source Steering Committee was established to extensively carry out user demand research and line station planning, and the preliminary design scheme of 10 line stations in Phase I project was determined; In accordance with the demands of cutting-edge science and technology and high-end industries in southern China, especially in the Great Bay Area, working groups were set up and seminars were held in 11 major research fields, including biomedicine, new energy materials and devices, resources and environment, material genes, condensed matter physics, chemistry and chemical engineering.
Wang Sheng said that the Southern Advanced Light Source will take serving the industrial development of the Guangdong Hong Kong Macao Greater Bay Area as one of the important positioning, pay more attention to the combination with the advanced industries of the Greater Bay Area while serving basic research and application basic research, and is expected to make important contributions to the industrial innovation and upgrading of the Greater Bay Area in the future.
