Status of and plans for the Basic Plasma Science Facility
POSTER
Abstract
The Basic Plasma Science Facility (BaPSF) at UCLA is a collaborative research facility for studies of fundamental processes in magnetized plasmas, supported by US DOE and NSF. The centerpiece of the facility is the Large Plasma Device (LAPD), a 20m long, magnetized linear plasma device. The LAPD is used to study a number of fundamental processes, including: collisionless shocks; dispersion and damping of kinetic and inertial Alfvén waves; turbulence and transport; flux ropes and 3D reconnection; and interactions of energetic ions and electrons with plasma waves. A major upgrade to the plasma source of the LAPD was completed over the last year, replacing the former BaO hot cathode source with a new LaB6 plasma source along with a new magnet section capable of producing up to 0.8T fields in the source region. This new plasma source provides a significant increase in the discharge power density and allows access to higher density and temperature operating regimes; the source hardware and plasma conditions achieved during operation will be discussed. An overview of recent research using the facility will be given along with a discussion of future plans including upcoming solicitation for experimental runtime on LAPD.
Presenters
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Troy A Carter
University of California, Los Angeles
Authors
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Troy A Carter
University of California, Los Angeles
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Walter N Gekelman
University of California, Los Angeles
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George J Morales
University of California, Los Angeles
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Christoph Niemann
University of California, Los Angeles
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Patrick Pribyl
University of California, Los Angeles
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Shreekrishna Tripathi
University of California, Los Angeles
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Steve T Vincena
University of California, Los Angeles, University of California, Los Angeles, US