Basic Plasma Science Facility

University Of California-Los Angeles, Los Angeles CA

Investigators

Abstract

This Cooperative Agreement between the National Science Foundation and the University of California, Los Angeles, provides funding for the operation of a national facility for research in basic plasma science at the University of California, Los Angeles. The core of the facility is the Large Plasma Device (LAPD-II), a unique research instrument well suited for collaborative studies by multiple users. The facility provides a place in which to perform frontier-level experiments that require physical conditions not suitable for small devices. The LAPD will be operated on a 24-hour basis, except for necessary pauses for routine maintenance and upgrades, providing research-grade plasmas at a one Hertz repetition rate and having a wide range of possible parameter choices under the user's control. This project is jointly funded by the National Science Foundation and the Department of Energy as part of the NSF/DOE Partnership in Basic Plasma Science and Engineering. NSF funding is divided between the Physics Division in the Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate and the Division of Atmospheric Sciences in the Directorate for Geosciences.