The construction of the China Spallation Neutron Source, or CSNS, is making continued progress as a crucial component has been installed successfully.
The newly installed device will determine the performance and efficiency of the whole project.
The CSNS is a tool to utilize neutrons to probe the structure of the microscopic world, like the structure of an atom.
Chen Hesheng, academician at Chinese Academy of Sciences, and also head of the CSNS project explains:
"Spallation neutrons are like a pile of crystal balls. We want to study various lattice structures made of atoms by using the spallation neutrons. Some neutrons will scatter and the change direction of of their movement when they are shot at the structure and some will travel through the lattice structure. We can calculate the composition of the lattice structure by accurately measuring the direction and energy of the crystal balls (neutrons)."
He says the CSNS will be crucial to China's basic research, and could help.
