Overview of the Basic Plasma Science Facility

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[1]. The LAPD has been utilized to study a

number of fundamental processes, including: collisionless shocks;

dispersion and damping of kinetic and inertial Alfvén waves;

turbulence and transport; and interactions of energetic ions and

electrons with plasma waves. A major upgrade to the plasma source of

the LAPD was recently completed, 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, as well

as new operations using gas puffing to achieve higher

density, more uniform, and more quiescent plasmas. An overview

will be given of recent research using the facility along with a

discussion of future plans including an upcoming solicitation for

experimental runtime on LAPD.

[1] W. Gekelman, et al., The upgraded Large Plasma Device, a machine for studying frontier basic plasma physics, Rev. Sci. Instrum., 87, 025105 (2016) http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/1.4941079