TAU Systems Upgrades University of Texas Tabletop Laser to 40 TW

TAU Systems has upgraded the existing University of Texas Tabletop Terawatt Laser (UT³) to facilitate the powering of a compact particle accelerator. The upgraded UT³ driver laser now produces ultrashort pulses with a peak power of 40 TW.

The upgrade is part of a collaboration between TAU and the University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) to jointly develop the fundamental elements of laser-plasma interactions and advance the science and technology of compact accelerator systems and advanced light sources, with the goal of making the tools available to a broad range of end users and industry.

White light from a laser-generated air plasma is incident on the pointing screen of the TAU electron spectrometer. Courtesy of TAU Systems.

The updated UT³ reaches almost twice the energy of its predecessor. The upgrade was carried out by personnel from TAU Systems and UT Austin with the necessary components from the Thales laser company. TAU has already shown the new potential of the upgrade through the successful laser-driven acceleration of electrons in a TAU-designed beamline.

The system will now be used for the development of compact laser-wakefield accelerators and EUV and x-ray light sources for applications in semiconductors, material science, battery technology, medical imaging, and more.

According to Bjorn Manuel Hegelich, CEO of TAU Systems and a professor in UT’s Physics Department, the upgraded laser will allow researchers to develop new imaging capabilities for users from within and outside UT Austin.

TAU Systems intends to install a system 100 times more powerful in its recently acquired premises in San Diego by the end of the year. The opening of the service center will create previously unavailable opportunities for researchers across a number of fields, especially semiconductor manufacturing through the exploration and the metrology of 3D structures in semiconductors. The service center will also allow EV battery developers to comprehensively study the charging and discharging of batteries.