Scientists invent an 'advanced wakefield laser' accelerator

This accelerator operates within a 10-centimeter chamber, a significant reduction compared to conventional accelerators that require kilometers of space.

Bjorn “Manuel” Hegelich, associate professor of physics at UT and CEO of TAU Systems, alluding to the size of the chamber where the beam was produced stated: “We can now reach those energies in 10 centimeters.”

Scientists are aiming to use this technology for assessing the resilience of space-bound electronics against radiation, capturing the 3D internal configurations of emerging semiconductor chip designs, and potentially pioneering new cancer treatments and advanced medical imaging methodologies.

Furthermore, the statement noted that this accelerator could also be used to drive another device called an X-ray free electron laser, which could take slow-motion movies of processes on the atomic or molecular scale. 

Instances of these procedures involve interactions between drugs and cells, alterations within batteries that could lead to ignition in addition to chemical reactions occurring within solar panels, and the transformation of viral proteins as they infect cells.

“The laser is like a boat skimming across a lake, leaving behind a wake, and electrons ride this plasma wave like surfers,” described the university.

World's most potent pulsed laser utilized

​​Researchers employed the Texas Petawatt Laser, the most potent pulsed laser globally, harbored at UT, emitting an ultra-intense light pulse every hour for the experiment.

A single pulse emitted by a petawatt laser contains roughly 1,000 times the installed electrical power in the US, lasting only 150 femtoseconds—considerably shorter than a lightning discharge, which lasts a billionth of its duration.

Currently, the team is striving to create a system driven by a laser that fits on a tabletop capable of firing numerous times per second. This vastly enhances the compactness of the entire accelerator and broadens its applicability to a much wider array of settings compared to conventional accelerators according to the university. 

“It’s hard to get into a big wave without getting overpowered, so wake surfers get dragged in by Jet Skis,” Hegelich stated. 

“In our accelerator, the equivalent of Jet Skis are nanoparticles that release electrons at just the right point and just the right time, so they are all sitting there in the wave. We get a lot more electrons into the wave when and where we want them to be, rather than statistically distributed over the whole interaction, and that’s our secret sauce.”

The research is a collaboration between a team of scientists and researchers from The University of Texas at Austin, several national laboratories, European universities, and the Texas-based company TAU Systems Inc.