A 2400 meter deep physics laboratory located in Sichuan Province, southwestern China, was put into operation on Thursday, becoming the world's deepest and largest underground laboratory.
Scientists believe that the laboratory provides a "clean" space for them to search for invisible matter called dark matter. They say that extreme depths help block most cosmic rays that interfere with observations.
The Deep Underground Ultra Low Radiation Background Facility (DURF) for cutting-edge physics experiments is located at the foot of Jinping Mountain in Liangshan Yi Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan Province.
DURF is the second phase project of China Jinping Underground Laboratory, with a total room capacity of 330000 cubic meters. Construction began in December 2020, in collaboration between Tsinghua University and Yalongjiang Hydropower Development Co., Ltd.
Due to its location, DURF is exposed to tiny cosmic ray fluxes, which are only one billionth of the Earth's surface. Professor Yue Qian from Tsinghua University said that it has advantages such as ultra-low cosmic ray flux, extremely low environmental radiation, extremely low radon concentration, and ultra clean space, which will promote dark matter detection.
Scientists infer that visible matter only accounts for about 5% of the universe, while about 95% of the universe is composed of dark matter and dark energy.
The first batch of 10 teams from Chinese universities and research institutions such as Tsinghua University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University have entered DURF to conduct scientific experiments.
Yue said that the Deep Earth Research Institute will become a world-class interdisciplinary deep earth science research center that integrates multiple disciplines such as particle physics, nuclear astrophysics, and life sciences, in order to promote China's research and development in related cutting-edge fields.
The first phase of the China Jinping Underground Laboratory project was completed and put into use at the end of 2010, with a room capacity of approximately 4000 cubic meters. Multiple scientific achievements have been made, enabling China's direct detection of dark matter to reach an advanced level on the global stage.