To promote the development of nuclear detection technology and nuclear electronics, the “Joint Laboratory of Particle Detection and Electronics” was established on April 25, 2005, based on the long-term cooperation between IHEP and the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). The joint laboratory became a CAS Key Laboratory in December 2008 and was classified as “Class A” by CAS in July 2009. In 2011, it was approved for development as a State Key Laboratory by the Chinese Ministry of Science and Technology. On November 14, 2013, the laboratory was officially authorized to become a State Key Laboratory.

The State Key Laboratory aims to become a world-class research base for nuclear detection technology and nuclear electronics, as well as meet national demands, complete the design and construction of significant scientific research facilities and join in international collaborations for large detector design and development. IHEP and USTC have focused on the training of personnel, and a national class research team has gradually formed.

The Laboratory has finished the upgrade of the Beijing Spectrometer (BESIII) and the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment. It is now working on the design and construction of several large scientific facilities, including the China Spallation Neutron Source (CSNS) and Jiangmen Underground Neutrino Observatory (JUNO). Advanced detection technology, front-end electronics, large capacity and high speed data acquisition, and online processing are also important research areas of the Laboratory.

Major research topics include:

• New types of two-dimensional gas pixel detector and their electronics
• High-performance RPC / MRPC detectors and their applications
• New types of semiconductor pixel detector and their electronics and 3D technology
• ASIC design and applications
• New types of neutron scintillation detector
• New types of liquid scintillation neutrino detector and associated photoelectric detectors
• New types of inorganic crystals and their applications
• New types of anti-radiation electronics: elements, circuits and methods
• High-speed waveform sampling techniques and applied research
• High-precision FPGA TDCs
• High-speed data readout and real-time processing
• Spectroscopic techniques and their applications
• Research for neutron intensity correlation imaging