Physics World May 2025

Lighting the future: China gets set for new synchrotron source

Synchrotron light sources have come a long way since they were first developed as an off-shoot from particle accelerator facilities. Robert P Crease visits the High Energy Photon Source near Beijing, which will become the world’s most advanced fourth-generation synchrotron-light source when it opens later this year. Also this month, there's an interview with theoretical physicist Jim Gates, who updates his 2014 “bucket list”, highlighting the key breakthroughs in physics he would like to see. Finally, in the first of a series about “weird” quantum phenomena, Margaret Harris takes a look at the quantum Zeno effect.

Expand to full screen, bookmark pages or download to read offline using the icons beneath the screen. You can access the videos and audio clips if you read the e-magazine online. Read it now