Powerful X-rays to shed light on research

China announced on Thursday that it has mastered the core technologies to build the world's brightest synchrotron radiation light source, and that it expects to be able to produce the most powerful X-rays by 2025. This will allow scientists to study subatomic particles in greater detail and promote more understanding in fields ranging from material science to medicine.

The light source facility - the High Energy Photon Source - will be built by the Institute of High Energy Physics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. The project has been approved by the National Development and Reform Commission and is expected to cost around 4.8 billion yuan ($720 million), said Luo Xiaoan, deputy director of the institute.

HEPS will be one of the world's few fourth-generation synchrotron light sources with the ability to probe the inner structures of materials, he said.