中国利用尖端电子枪产生了一束电子束，朝着建设一台“超级显微镜”迈出了关键一步，这有望推动从阿尔茨海默症研究到先进微芯片等领域取得突破性进展。
China has produced an electron beam using a cutting-edge electron gun, taking a step towards building a “super microscope” that could help drive breakthroughs in everything from Alzheimer’s research to advanced microchips.
位于中国中部安徽省的合肥先进光源（HALF）于9月20日成功发出首束电子束。
The Hefei Advanced Light Facility (HALF) in central China’s Anhui province fired its first electron beam on September 20.
由电子枪产生的电子团簇，经由一台长192米（约630英尺）的直线加速器加速，能量达到22亿电子伏特，标志着这一第四代光源项目取得了里程碑式进展。
Bunches of electrons generated by the gun were accelerated by a 192-metre (630-foot) linear accelerator until they reached 2.2 billion electron volts, marking a milestone for the fourth-generation light source project.
参与该项目的科学家何志刚对官方通讯社新华社表示：“成功出束意味着我们向最终目标迈出了关键一步。”
“Producing a beam successfully means we’ve taken a key step towards our final goal,” He Zhigang, one of the scientists working on the project, told state news agency Xinhua.
他指出，电子束的品质、稳定性和可靠性将对利用合肥先进光源开展的实验产生重大影响。
He said the beam’s quality, stability and reliability had a major impact on the experiments conducted with HALF.
据中国科学技术大学介绍，合肥先进光源的设计亮度和稳定性均处于世界领先水平。
According to the University of Science and Technology of China, HALF’s designed brightness and stability were the highest in the world.
项目首席、中国科学院院士封东来表示，直线加速器的所有关键设备均实现了国产化。
Feng Donglai, the project’s chief and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said all the key equipment for the linear accelerator was built domestically.
与其他光源装置一样，合肥先进光源旨在利用高速电子在磁场中转向时产生的极高亮度X射线，在原子尺度上观测物质结构。
Like other light source projects, HALF is designed to use extremely bright X-rays, generated when high-speed electrons turn in magnetic fields, to observe the structure of matter at the atomic scale.
与早期几代光源相比，第四代光源能更精准地控制电子束。电子束更细、更集中，从而产生更亮的X射线。
Compared with earlier generations, fourth-generation light sources control electron beams more precisely. The beam is finer and more concentrated, producing brighter X-rays.
合肥先进光源产生的X射线亮度和相干性将比第三代光源高出100倍以上，这有望催生新的实验方法。
The X-rays produced by HALF will be more than 100 times brighter and more coherent than those from third-generation sources. This is expected to lead to new experimental methods.
该装置将建设多达35个实验站，供全球科学家共享，并有望推动高温超导、新能源电池、先进材料及生命科学（包括阿尔茨海默症研究）等领域的进步。
The facility will feature up to 35 experimental stations to be shared by scientists worldwide and could help drive advances in high-temperature superconductivity, new energy batteries, advanced materials and life sciences, including Alzheimer’s research.
首批10个实验站将包含一个极紫外光刻平台——这是制造先进半导体的关键技术，目前受到美国主导的严格出口管制。其他实验站将专注于纳米器件。
The first batch of 10 stations will include a platform for extreme ultraviolet lithography – a key technology for manufacturing advanced semiconductors that is currently subject to strict US-led export controls. Other stations will focus on nano-devices.
合肥先进光源（HALF）于2023年开工建设，预计2028年完工。它将与北京高能光子源、上海同步辐射光源共同构建覆盖高、中、低能段的中国先进光源体系。
Construction of HALF started in 2023 and the project is expected to be completed in 2028. Together with the High Energy Photon Source in Beijing and the Shanghai Synchrotron Radiation Facility, it will form China’s advanced light source system covering high-, medium- and low-energy ranges.
HALF所使用的电子束曾仅是高能物理实验的副产品，早期光源曾“搭便车”依托于20世纪80年代末投入运行的北京正负电子对撞机。
The kind of electron beam used by HALF was once just a by-product of high-energy physics experiments, and early light sources “piggybacked” on the Beijing Electron-Positron Collider, which began operation in the late 1980s.
1989年，中国克服巨大技术挑战，建成首台专用“超级显微镜”——合肥光源。
In 1989, China overcame huge technical challenges to build its first dedicated “super microscope”, the Hefei Light Source.
此后，三代光源产出诸多重大成果，包括发现砷治疗白血病的分子机制、揭示SARS病毒三维结构、以及对9900万年前琥珀中的恐龙化石进行成像。
Since then, third-generation light sources have produced many major results, including discovering the molecular mechanism by which arsenic treats leukaemia, revealing the three-dimensional structure of the Sars virus, and imaging a dinosaur fossil inside 99 million-year-old amber.