Dubbed a "super microscope," a spallation neutron source can produce and accelerate protons before smashing them into the target to produce neutrons, and the resulting neutron beams will be directed to hit material samples. That allows researchers to accurately infer the inner structure of the materials, by measuring the distribution of scattered neutrons and their changes in energy and momentum. The spallation neutron source is a large research infrastructure that reflects the comprehensive strength of a country's economic, industrial and scientific and technological levels. 

China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS), located in Dongguan, a city in South China's Guangdong Province, is the fourth pulse spallation neutron source in the world, after the United Kingdom, the United States and Japan. The CSNS includes a powerful, linear accelerator, a rapid cycling synchrotron, a target station, several neutron instruments and other auxiliary equipment. Since it officially began operating in August 2018, the CSNS has provided an advanced platform for scientific research in the fields of resource, environment, new energy, material science and technology, and chemistry as well as chemical engineering. 

The CSNS project's neutron detector and data acquisition team, established in 2010, has nine women researchers, accounting for 60 percent of the membership. It is one of the most professional scientific teams working on neutron detector and related data acquisition in China. 

Wearing blue suits, these women researchers work conscientiously in the laboratory, or on the equipment-installation sites. They do not think engineering and scientific research is boring; instead, their work is full of fun and challenges. 

The neutron detector and data-acquisition system is vital to CSNS. The detector's main function is to carry out real-time measurement of a neutron's position, and related time information. The neutron instrument can detect the material structure of a sample, with the assistance of high-performance neutron detector. Therefore, the neutron detector is known as the "eye of neutron instrument." 

The team members in China started from scratch. They reviewed a large number of documents, had discussions with domestic and foreign experts, and carried out many experiments. Finally, they successfully grasped the core technologies, and they developed engineering equipment related to neutron detection and data acquisition. The equipment's key technical indices and overall performance have reached globally advanced levels. 

The team's members have devoted heart and soul to ensuring the successful completion of CSNS. During a critical moment in the project's construction, in 2017- 2018, the team almost worked year round. Even on Chinese New Year's Eve, they hurried to work in the laboratory, after they ate the dinner and exchanged — via video — New Year's greetings with their family members. 

During the past four years, the project has completed nine rounds of operation tasks, and finished more than 1,000 experimental subjects for users. It has made important achievements in the fields of new energy materials, aeronautical materials, and combustible ice. 

In 2021, the team received a national-level award for its advanced technical personnel. In the same year, it won third prize in the women's scientific and technological innovation competition of Guangdong- Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. In 2022, the team was awarded the title of the National March 8th Red-Banner Collective. 

Tang Bin, 39, a researcher with the Institute of High Energy Physics, under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is head of the team. "I feel deeply proud of being a … recipient of the National March 8th Red- Banner Collective. As a woman researcher, I have a sense of mission and responsibility … As China enters the new development stage, women scientific and technological workers are receiving unprecedented development opportunities. We have received more attention from all walks of life," says Tang. "We will continue to dedicate ourselves to the CSNS project, show women's responsibility in sci-tech self-reliance and self-strengthening, and we will gather women's strength to build China into a country strong in science and technology."

Photos by Sun Xiaosi

(Women of China English Monthly May 2023 issue)