The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) on Sunday unveiled a plan to develop an advanced attosecond laser facility, which allows researchers to observe and control processes that occur at the atomic and subatomic levels, at a conference in Xi'an City of northwest China's Shaanxi Province.
Attosecond is the shortest unit of time that human beings have been able to master so far. An attosecond is a flash of light which is 0.000000000000000001 of a second. Attosecond lasers can be used to detect electron movements inside molecules that were previously difficult to see.
The development of the advanced attosecond laser facility will be undertaken by the Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in five years. Once completed, this comprehensive ultrafast electron dynamics research facility will combine attosecond lasers with their ultrashort pulse width and high spatial resolution to go deep into a series of major scientific issues in basic research.
"The large-scale attosecond scientific facility is of great significance to basic research. For example, it is highly significant to research at the electronic level, including the mechanism for electron pairing in high-temperature superconductivity, solution of the bottleneck problems in traditional computation, the ultimate efficiency of photovoltaic conversion efficacy, and so on," said Zhao Wei, a principal scientist with the institute.
At the conference, a blue paper on cutting-edge photonic technology was released. It says global photonic technology research keeps growing steadily and has multidisciplinary characteristics. It plays an increasingly important role in artificial intelligence. They are driving new progress in photonic computing and information processing technologies.
"We've also found out that photonics is a very multidisciplinary field and is broadly used in medicine, computer science, and other fields with very extensive interdisciplinary integration. Such deep interdisciplinary integration has in turn promoted our unremitting innovation and application in the field of photonics," said Wu Dengsheng, a distinguished professor of Shenzhen University.
China unveils plan to develop advanced attosecond laser facility
The 6th China Media Group (CMG) Chinese Language Video Festival held at Palace of Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, on Friday to mark the 2026 United Nations Chinese Language Day.
Co-hosted by CMG, China's Permanent Mission to the UN in Geneva, and the UN Office at Geneva, the event brought together over 350 guests from more than 30 countries.
At the event, Tatiana Valovaya, director-general of the United Nations Office at Geneva, said as one of the six official languages of the United Nations, the Chinese language is an important link between China and the world, and between Chinese civilization and other civilizations, which not only reflects its great value to human society, but also highlights the significance of the Chinese language in multilateral diplomacy.
Addressing the event via video link, Shen Haixiong, vice minister of the Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and CMG president, said that as a world-class mainstream media outlet, CMG has always been committed to spreading Chinese culture and promoting civilizational exchanges. It has carefully produced a large number of cultural programs that make China's fine traditional culture shine with new brilliance in the new era.
Shen said CMG will continue to advance "5G plus 4K/8K plus AI" innovation and build more pragmatic cultural exchange platforms.
Jia Guide, China's permanent representative and ambassador to the United Nations Office at Geneva and other international organizations in Switzerland, said that the establishment of UN Chinese Language Day not only protects linguistic diversity, but also promotes the exchange of ideas and the mutual understanding of concepts.
He expressed the hope to take this event as an opportunity to integrate historical experience, institutional advantages and innovative vitality of countries, show their strategic vision and political wisdom, and jointly inject positive energy into building a more just and rational global governance system and a better future.
During the event, many Chinese and international youths were invited to share their understanding of Chinese characters. Through this activity, young people from different cultural backgrounds can intuitively feel the emotional resonance and civilizational connection behind the language.
Many cultural television programs produced by CMG, including "The Chinese Calligraphy Conference" and "Crafted in China," were screened during the event. CMG also specially set up a creative products booth and an interactive experience area, allowing guests to experience traditional Chinese culture — such as calligraphy, embroidery, and paper-cutting — and try out intelligent interactive devices.
Chinese Language Day, established by the United Nations in 2010, is celebrated annually on Guyu, or Grain Rain, the sixth of the 24 traditional Chinese solar terms, to highlight the global significance of the Chinese language.
CMG Video Festival held in Geneva to mark 2026 UN Chinese Language Day
