Status of and plans for 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.  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.