My country has successfully produced and identified rare atomic nuclei, marking a new achievement in its major scientific endeavors.

Recently, a research team from the Institute of Modern Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with others, successfully produced and identified the rare atomic nucleus hafnium-153 using the newly built High Intensity Heavy Ion Accelerator Facility (HIAF). This is the first physical achievement obtained during the commissioning of the facility, verifying that my country's new generation of high-intensity heavy ion research facilities has the capability to explore unknown nuclides and expand the nuclide map. The relevant findings were recently published in the academic journal Science Bulletin.

The atomic nucleus is composed of protons and neutrons, and different combinations of protons and neutrons create a rich and diverse world of nuclides. Exploring unknown nuclides and studying the boundaries of the atomic nucleus are important frontiers in nuclear physics. Hafnium-153, located in the neutron-deficient heavy nucleus region, is an important object for studying the evolution of nuclear structure and stability limits. Discovering and precisely measuring this nuclide will help test nuclear theoretical models and deepen our understanding of the laws governing atomic nuclear structure.

In the experiment, the research team observed a total of 10 hafnium-153 ions. The measurements indicate that hafnium-153 is a bound or weakly bound nuclide, consistent with existing theoretical models. Several high-performance key technologies employed in this high-intensity heavy-ion accelerator facility laid the foundation for the successful detection of hafnium-153, which has an extremely low probability of formation. In the future, as the performance of this large scientific facility continues to improve, the experiment's detection capabilities will be further enhanced, playing a crucial role in exploring unknown nuclear regions, discovering new nuclides, and studying the properties of atomic nuclei under extreme conditions.