Tau Systems, ELI Beamlines, and U Texas developing laser-driven particle acceleration

17 Oct 2024

Experiments are based on Laser Wakefield Acceleration with goal of generating multi-GeV e-beams.

Tau Systems, a producer of ultrafast, compact laser-plasma accelerators and secondary radiation sources, has announced a research collaboration with ELI ERIC and the University of Texas (UT) at Austin.

The collaboration involves a series of experiments based on Laser Wakefield Acceleration (LWFA) using the Texas Petawatt laser system, housed at UT Austin, with the goals of generating multi-GeV electron beams for applications such as radiography and muon production.

The scientists will also make use of “nanoparticle-assisted Laser Wakefield Acceleration”, a novel technique which has recently allowed researchers from Tau Systems together with UT Austin, several national US laboratories and European universities to generate and accelerate electrons to record energy of 10 GeV over a distance as short as 100 mm.

Triples the amount of daily research

During these experiments, an upgrade at the Texas Petawatt will be tested, under which the repetition rate of the system has been increased three times, up to a shot every 20 minutes, which triples the amount of research that can be done in a day. Further experiments are foreseen using ELI’s Petawatt beamlines available in Czechia, at the ELI-Beamlines facility.

The collaboration commenced in June 2024 and will continue over the course of one year, consisting of several experimental campaigns with the teams collaborating at the Texas Petawatt facility. During this time period, a mutual exchange of personnel and expertise will take place between members of Tau and several research groups from UT and ELI.

Tau Systems CEO, Bjorn Manuel Hegelich said of the collaboration, “Our team here at Tau Systems will provide the gas targets used for the experiments, and the expertise in Laser Wakefield Acceleration.”

ELI ERIC Director General Allen Weeks said, “By pooling our capabilities, we are accelerating innovation in laser-driven particle acceleration, a field critical to the future of science and industry alike.”

The partners stated that the collaboration can “accelerate the path towards democratizing access to laser driven particle and radiation sources, from both electrons and neutrons to X-rays and Gamma rays”.

The development of these products aligned with innovative “pay-to-play” beam access at Tau Labs application centers will accelerate research, both fundamental and applied, into many exciting and relevant areas such as radiation testing for space-bound electronics, higher resolution 3D materials imaging, battery development, biomolecules structure determination and engineering, material testing for nuclear fusion reactors and nuclear waste reduction.