# TAU Systems

> TAU Systems is a deep-tech company commercializing the first compact, laser-driven particle accelerators and specialized X-ray free-electron lasers. By replacing miles of conventional accelerator with millimeters of laser-driven plasma, TAU shrinks billion-dollar, kilometer-long machines down to a room-sized footprint - and rents beam time to industry and academia. Spun out of the University of Texas at Austin in 2021 by physicist Bjorn Manuel Hegelich, the company builds application centers (TAU Labs) so semiconductor, battery, medical, and space-electronics researchers can access accelerator-grade light and particle beams without waiting years for a slot at a national facility.

- **Founded:** 2021
- **Headquarters:** Austin, Texas, United States
- **Founders:** Bjorn Manuel Hegelich (Founder & CEO), Lukasz Gadowski (Chairman & Founding Investor)
- **Team size:** ~22 employees
- **Products:** Compact Laser-Plasma Accelerators (LPA), Compact Free-Electron Lasers / XFEL, TAU Labs Application Centers, Space Radiation Testing, Laser Systems & Beamline Design
- **Notable:** Spun out of UT Austin in 2021 to commercialize laser-driven particle accelerators., Raised $35M total, including a $20M seed round led by Quantonation (2025)., Upgraded UT Austin's tabletop laser to 40 terawatts and debuted a TAU-designed beamline.

## Products & services

- **Compact Laser-Plasma Accelerators (LPA)** — Room-sized particle accelerators that use high-power ultrafast lasers to drive plasma waves, accelerating electrons to multi-GeV energies over centimeters instead of kilometers.
- **Compact Free-Electron Lasers / XFEL** — Laser-plasma-driven free-electron lasers producing coherent EUV and X-ray light in a footprint of a few meters, versus the kilometer-scale, billion-dollar national XFEL facilities.
- **TAU Labs Application Centers** — Beam-time-as-a-service facilities (first in Carlsbad, CA) where semiconductor, battery, materials, medical, and space-electronics customers access particle and light sources without building their own accelerator.
- **Space Radiation Testing** — Using compact accelerators to test space-bound electronics against high-energy radiation on the ground.
- **Laser Systems & Beamline Design** — In-house development of high-peak-power lasers, beam diagnostics, and TAU-designed beamlines, including upgrading UT Austin's tabletop laser to 40 terawatts.

## Achievements

- Spun out of UT Austin in 2021 to commercialize laser-driven particle accelerators.
- Raised $35M total, including a $20M seed round led by Quantonation (2025).
- Upgraded UT Austin's tabletop laser to 40 terawatts and debuted a TAU-designed beamline.
- Demonstrated 10 GeV electron acceleration over roughly 10 cm of plasma.
- With Berkeley Lab, demonstrated the U.S.'s first laser-driven VUV free-electron laser.
- July 2025: demonstrated intense, coherent FEL light driven by a laser-plasma accelerator - published in Physical Review Letters.
- 2026: ran a laser-plasma-driven free-electron laser for more than eight hours of stable coherent output.
- Signed lease on a 22,300 sq ft TAU Labs application center at Carlsbad Research Center near San Diego.

## Latest updates

- **2026-01** — A TAU/Berkeley Lab laser-plasma accelerator powered a free-electron laser for more than eight hours of stable coherent light - a major stability milestone.
- **2025-07** — TAU Systems and Berkeley Lab demonstrated intense, coherent FEL light driven by a laser-plasma accelerator, published in Physical Review Letters.
- **2025-04** — UT Austin's Discovery to Impact fund invested in TAU Systems' laser-driven particle accelerator.
- **2025-03** — Closed a $20M seed round led by Quantonation to build TAU Labs.
- **2023-11** — Signed lease on a 22,300 sq ft building at Carlsbad Research Center for its first TAU Labs application center.
- **2023-09** — Upgraded UT Austin's tabletop laser to 40 terawatts and debuted its particle accelerator.

## Links

- Website: https://tausystems.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/tausystems
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/TauSystems

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/tau-systems
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-07-02