TAU Systems and Thales Unveil Plan for Commercial Particle Acceleration Offering
TAU Systems, a developer of laser-plasma accelerators, is collaborating with solid-state laser producer Thales to offer complete commercial laser-driven particle and radiation sources. The solution range will offer the capabilities to generate electron or neutrons to X-rays and gamma rays, and aims to accelerate R&D into radiation testing of space-bound electronics, advanced X-ray imaging of 3D structures, and even novel cancer therapies.
The partners will install the first such system supporting the joint undertaking at TAU Labs' facility in Carlsbad, California.
While conventional high-energy particle accelerators are large, expensive, and, as a result, limited to a handful of national labs and universities, TAU Systems' compact laser wakefield accelerator, the company said, can be used to drive an X-ray free-electron laser. This source could be used as a light source for beyond-extreme ultraviolet lithography for even more advanced chip production. TAU secured $20 million in funding this spring to open the California-based laser-particle accelerator. The company said at the time of the funding that it also planned to use the financing to begin work with its first customer, which it called a "major satellite manufacturing company."
Thales, for its part, this spring inaugurated a standalone company, GenF, that aims to develop an inertial confinement nuclear fusion-based energy source. GenF currently brings together around 10 scientists, engineers, and industrial experts and involves about 40 people from the collaborating entities.
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