Figure 1. Aerial View of HIAF. (Image from IMP)

The High Intensity heavy-ion Accelerator Facility (HIAF), one of China’s major scientific and technological infrastructure projects, successfully completed beam commissioning on October 28, marking a crucial milestone in its construction.

Located in Huizhou, Guangdong Province, HIAF is designed as a multifunctional accelerator for heavy-ion physics and applications. It is being constructed by the Institute of Modern Physics (IMP) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

HIAF aims to produce high-intensity heavy-ion beams across a broad range of energies. By accelerating ions to high energy, heavy-ion accelerators serve as “super microscopes,” enabling scientists to explore the ultra-microscopic world and supporting cutting-edge applications in a wide spectrum of fields such as energy research, healthcare, materials science, aerospace, and biological breeding.

During the commissioning, heavy ions were generated by a superconducting electron cyclotron resonance (ECR) ion source, pre-accelerated by a superconducting linear accelerator, and then accumulated and accelerated to high energy in the booster ring. The beams were then transported to experimental terminals, achieving full beam commissioning for the first time.

Using an independently developed high-performance control system, the project team has achieved precise beam commissioning, laying a solid foundation for the reliable operation of HIAF.

Construction of HIAF began in December 2018 with a planned timeline of seven years. It is one of the world's largest ion accelerators capable of accelerating all ions, with a total beamline length of two kilometers, more than 6,000 sets of large process equipment, and nearly 5 million components.

Over the past decade, the project team has achieved a series of technological breakthroughs. These include the development of the world’s first fourth-generation ECR ion source and China’s first milliampere-level continuous-wave heavy-ion superconducting linear accelerator. Innovations were also achieved in critical subsystems such as accelerating cavities, magnets, power supplies, and vacuum chambers. The team also pioneered a “digital-twin-driven construction” model, significantly enhancing the quality and efficiency of this large-scale scientific installation.

Upon completion, HIAF will deliver the world’s most intense pulsed heavy-ion beams and provide a multifunctional nuclear mass spectrometer with the highest precision.

Figure 2. The booster ring of HIAF (Image from IMP)

Figure 3. The spectrometer ring for high-precision experiments (Image from IMP)