News on China's scientific and technological development.

The Institute of Plasma Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (abbreviated as ASIPP) manufactured the ITER Correction Coil (CC) conductor and completed 925m-long CC dummy conductor cable insertion on April 1 under the witness of ITER DA deputy director LUO Delong and other section leaders.

On the following day, the first dummy CC conductor production was successfully completed under the witness of Mark Gardener, the Quality Management Officer of ITER Organization.

Prof. WU Yu, the head of Superconductor Center (SCC), ASIPP said that with the help and support of ITER DA and the great efforts of the whole staff in SCC, ASIPP, 4 control points, i.e. Jacket Authorization-to-Proceed Point (ATPP), Cable ATPP, Cable Notification Point (NP), Welding ATPP, were cleared during the CC conductor manufacturing process. Now the last control point—cable insertion NP was successfully cleared. All the CC Procurement Arrangement (PA) required documents were all approved too. The CC dummy conductor can be handovered in this month.

CC conductor PA is the third one which ASIPP is responsible for, besides TF PA and PF PA. On September 8th, 2011, ASIPP produced the 1st Toroidal Field (TF) dummy conductor and finished the 1st Poloidal Field (PF) dummy conductor 2 months later.

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Nowadays organic solar cells (OSCs) attract much attention due to their unique advantages such as low cost, flexibility, light weight, and large-area device fabrication. Small molecules offer potential advantages over conjugated polymer counterparts in terms of defined molecular structure, definite molecular weight, high purity, easy purification, easy mass-scale production, and good batch-to-batch reproducibility. However, the relatively low power conversion efficiency (PCE) of small molecular OSCs becomes the biggest hindrance to their application.

Recently researchers at Institute of Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, designed and synthesized a series of 1D D-A-D small molecule donors, which afforded PCE up to 3.7% in combination with PC71BM acceptor (Adv. Energy Mater., 2012, 2, 63-67).

Furthermore, they designed and synthesized a novel 3D, star-shaped, D-A-D organic small molecule donor, which exhibited excellent thermal stability, broad and strong absorption, relatively high mobility, and relatively low HOMO level. Solution processed OSCs based on blend of this molecule donor and PC71BM acceptor afforded a PCE as high as 4.3% without any post-treatments, e.g. thermal annealing, solvent annealing, or additive addition, which was among the highest reported for solution processed OSCs based on small molecules (Adv. Mater., 2011, 23, 1554-1557; ESI Highly Cited Paper and Hot Paper).

They also created a novel 3D star-shaped nonfullerene small molecule acceptor, which exhibited very high open-circuit voltage (1.18 V) in solution-processed OSCs(Chem. Commun., 2012, 48, 4773-4775).

The search was supported by the National Nature Science Foundation of China, the Ministry of Science and Technology of China and Chinese Academy of Sciences.

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Computer Network Information Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) has been creating preliminary cloud computing solutions for cyberlearning. The team brought a relevant e-learning product to the 4th China Cloud Computing Conference, which was held in Beijing on May 23-25, 2012 and attracted 3000 participants.

The product, Panda Cloud E-learning Platform (CEP), was demonstrated as one of the innovative cloud computing applications. CEP supports Software-as-a-service, which enable organizations or individual users to create tailored online training solutions without the cost of hardware, network, software and technical staff. Based on their concrete demands, users can define functional modules, server spaces and scope of resource sharing. A comprehensive service portfolio is provided after the user application, as if a complete system has been deployed within users’ organizations.

The preliminary design has been used by numbers of organizations such as small- and middle-scale enterprises of the electronic information industry in Guangdong Province, Institute of Automation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, “My Window to the World” Project (a charity project to narrow the science education gap between rural and urban areas), and the CAS Federation of Internet-based Public Science Education. During the conference, CEP attracted a wide range of potential users including training organizations, schools, and high-tech enterprises.

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Huazhong University of Science and Technology research team in China has successfully developed a selective Laser Sintering machine with build volume of 1200mm x 1200mm. Currently the big players in the laser sintering machine market are EOS from Germany and 3D systems from US. EOSINT P730 Plastic laser-sintering system has an effective build volume of 730 x 380 x 580 mm (27.6 x 15 x 22.9 in.) and 3D Systems' sPro™ has the build volume of 550 x 550 x 750 mm (22 x 22 x 30 in.). Therefore this is at the moment the largest laser sintering system available on the market.

The selective Laser Sintering technology can shorten the development cycle from months to weeks. It can be used in manufacturing power equipment, aerospace, automotive and other high-end products, such as hollow turbine blades, turbine disks, engine exhaust, engine block and cylinder head etc.

In 2010 the team was selected by Airbus to support producing large-scale titanium alloy structural parts for aerospace. It is reported that they have already got 200 orders for this system.

Here are some photo examples showing the products from the technology.

photo 1. PS Wax mold of Aluminum gearbox for tank engines

photo 2. A large thin-walled mold with size 847.92 x 185.46 x 229.90mm, building time is 29.3 hours. The accuracy is 200+-0.2mm, minimal wall thickness is 3.3mm.

Below are another three products they have made for customers:

1. Aluminum door frame wax mold for planes: size: 1020.27 x 109.98 x 113.26mm. Building time: 10.5 hours

2. A large titanium thin-walled mold for satellite: size: 660mm x 660mm x 760mm, accuracy 0.1%, building time: 72 hours

3. A titanium frame wax mold for satellite: size: 750mm x 750mm x 764mm, accuracy 0.1%, building time: 54 hours

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A lens is one of the most basic and important optical elements. It is well-known that a conventional lens provides only one focus spot for one shot of laser beam, resulting in the intrinsic low processing speed when the focused field of a lens is used for laser processing based on point-by-point scanning, such as direct laser writing fabrication, confocal microscopy, and optical manipulation, etc..

Recently, researchers from ZHOU Changhe’s group in Lab of Information Optics and Optoelectronics Techniques, Shanghai Institute of Optics and Fine Mechanics, Chinese academy of science (SIOM) reported a scheme to produce a three-dimensional (3D) focus spot array in a 3D lattice structure, called a 3D Dammann array, in focal volume of an objective. This 3D Dammann array is generated by using two separate micro-optical elements, a Dammann zone plate (DZP) that produces a series of coaxial focus spots and a conventional two-dimensional (2D) Dammann grating (DG). Based on this kind of DZP, one can always obtain a 3D Dammann array both for low and high numerical aperture (NA) focusing objectives. For experimental demonstration, an arrangement combining a DZP, a 2D DG, and a pair of opposing lenses is proposed to generate a 5×5×5 Dammann array in focal region of an objective with NA=0.13 and another 6×6×7 Dammann array for an objective of NA=0.66. It is shown that this arrangement makes it possible to achieve 3D Dammann arrays with micrometer-sized focus spots and focus spacings of tens of micrometers for various practical applications, such as 3D parallel micro-/nano-machining, 3D simultaneous optical manipulation, 3D optical data storage, and multifocal fluorescence microscope, etc..

This work has been published on Applied Optics 51, 1619-1630 (2012), and it recently been selected for publication in Virtual Journal for Biomedical Optics (VJBO).

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Aerosol, the tiny atmospheric particles may have significant impact on the environmental air quality, satellite imagery application, and the climate change. It represents one of the major uncertainties in the estimation of the climate change and therefore, the aerosol observation poses difficult scientific challenges to the environment and climate scientists all over the world.

The Institute of Remote Sensing Applications (IRSA) at the Chinese Academy of Sciences is leading an effort called the Multi-scale Comprehensive Observation and Study of Temporal-Spatial Properties of Aerosols Project (MOSTap), which is developed to qualify the spatial and temporal distribution of the aerosol of China at a national scale, as well as the detailed properties of the different types of aerosol, therefore to reduce the uncertainties in the assessment of the aerosol’s impact on climate change, and a better knowledge of our environment.

The project includes the following work packages: characterizing the aerosol optical properties from micro to macroscopic scale, studying its temporal and spatial distribution over China, and assessing its interactions with human activities and climate change. The measurements are taken through multi-scale comprehensive experiment involving ground-based, aircraft and satellite observations.

Started from September, 2010, Professor GU Xingfa’s team at IRSA, together with five partners from other institutes has carried out rounds of experiments to obtain comprehensive aerosol data for climate studies.

By far, the research group has obtained the monthly variation of aerosol chemical components based on ground-based remote sensing observation over Beijing region. As regards the radiative forcing of atmospheric aerosol, the research group has carried out experiments in specific areas such as the North China, where smoke and mineral dust have significant impact, and Tibetan Plateau, where the aerosol is affected by the monsoon from Southern Asia. The research shows that the temporal and spatial distribution of Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD) over Eastern Asia is closely connected with the dense population and booming economy at this area. Using coupled atmospheric chemistry and climate models, this group has mapped the aerosol radiative forcing from 1850 to 2000 globally. In addition, the aerosol effect on China’s climate, rainfall, and the cloud formation are also investigated.

The project has linked with AVHRR, MODIS and POLDER space sensors launched by NASA and EU respectively while China’s FY satellites are also widely employed in their study.

Planned to end in 2014, the ongoing research is supported by Chinese National Basic Research Program (973 Program). It will provide crucial clues to understanding the spatial and temporal distribution of aerosols, and modeling how the aerosol might affect the climate change, especially in China.

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Construction of the first EPR unit at the Taishan nuclear power plant in China's Guangdong province has passed another major milestone with the reactor pressure vessel (RPV) being lowered into place.

Taishan 1 and 2 are the first two reactors based on Areva's EPR design to be built in China. The first two EPRs planned for the site form part of an €8 billion ($10.4 billion) contract signed by Areva and the Guangdong Nuclear Power Group (CGNPC) in November 2007. The Taishan project, 140 kilometres west of Hong Kong, is owned by the Guangdong Taishan Nuclear Power Joint Venture Company Limited, a joint venture between France's EDF (30%) and CGNPC.

The RPV - weighing more than 420 tonnes, with a diameter of 5.3 metres and a height of 10.6 metres - was successfully installed on 3 June. In a joint statement, EDF and Areva said that the milestone "marks the start of works for the installation of the nuclear steam supply system ... to be undertaken in parallel with the installation of the equipment and auxilary systems."

David Emond, Areva's project manager for the Taishan project, commented: "The installation of the vessel for the first EPR reactor at Taishan power plant under the best conditions initiates an important new phase in the development of the site." He added, "With the success of this key operation, we have taken a further step towards the commissioning of the most powerful nuclear reactor in China."

First concrete was poured in October 2009, with the dome of the reactor building being lowered into place on top of the containment building in October 2011. Unit 1 should begin operating in 2013, with unit 2 following in 2014. The construction of two further EPRs at Taishan is expected to begin by 2015.

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Scientists at the Institute of High Energy Physics (IHEP) developed a micro Single-Photon Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT/CT) system with a high resolution imaging capability on small animals (bones, organs, etc.). This system provides a new tool for scientific research on nuclear medicine, pharmaceutics, biology, etc.

The micro SPECT/CT system is a dual-modality imaging device with the functions of both SPECT/CT and the image fusion. Different scan protocol can be chosen for the SPECT subsystem based on pinhole and parallel-hole collimations. The large area SPECT detector is composed of a NaI scintillation crystal array and four H8500 PS-PMTs, providing an excellent resolution rate.

Dedicated iterate reconstruction methods have been designed to improve spatial resolution and signal to noise ratio (SNR). Mutual information-based image registration and Alpha blending-based image fusion are applied to improve the accuracy of image interpretation.

The system passed evaluation in a review meeting held on May 29 at IHEP. According to the experts present, the system met all the designed specifications.

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Chinese President Hu Jintao Monday called for scientific and technological innovation at a conference attended by more than 1,200 esteemed scientists and engineers.

They attended the biennial conference of the country's two top think tanks, the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), which advise the government and industries on key scientific and technological issues.

China's economic development will rely more on innovation in science and technology as the country transforms its development pattern, restructures the domestic market and expands domestic demand, said Hu while delivering his conference speech.

The country's current situation not only brings tough challenges but also provides great opportunities to scientists and engineers, he said.

To fuel the economic growth, the key is to foster "indigenous innovation" and obtain genuine scientific and technological progress through the efforts of Chinese scientists and engineers, Hu said.The president urged top scientists and engineers to lend their wisdom to the country and provide advice on key policies.

Also, he expected the academicians to set the examples in terms of academic honesty and ethics.

Also present at the ceremony were senior state leaders Wu Bangguo, Wen Jiabao, Jia Qinglin, Li Changchun, Xi Jinping, Li Keqiang and Zhou Yongkang.

During the conference, the CAS will elect new presidiums of its all divisions and members of special academic committees as well as deliver the letters of appointments to new foreign academicians. The CAE members will discuss a report on how to improve the academician management and deliver the letters of appointment to newly-elected academicians and foreign counterparts.

The CAS has six divisions with 723 Chinese academicians and 64 foreign ones, while the CAE has nine divisions with 774 Chinese academicians and 41 foreign ones.

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