CPF Seminar with Philip Franke

Abstract: Laser-driven plasma waves can sustain accelerating gradients of 100 GV/m, up to 3-4 orders of magnitude greater than a conventional RF cavity. This allows compact electron accelerators to be driven by relativistically intense laser pulses, like those delivered by the UT3 laser system at UT Austin. Focusing 30 TW pulses to ~15 um in a variety of gas targets of few-mm length, UT3 has demonstrated stable generation of >100MeV electron beams with few-mrad divergences and 10s of pC of charge.

Tau Systems Inc. is collaborating with UT Austin, using UT3 to develop commercially viable compact accelerators and study their applications in medical physics and microelectronics development. Experimental focus over the last several years has centered on cancer radiotherapy, radiation-induced acoustic imaging, x-ray metrology of advanced chips and radiation effects testing of space-bound electronics. We will review UT3 accelerator capabilities and recent progress in applications development.