Multi-purpose mid-plane manipulator for plasma surface interaction research in KSTAR

A multi-purpose mid-plane manipulator system has been developed and installed at the mid-plane of the KSTAR vacuum vessel. The system serves as user facility which allows to cover various topics of researches in plasma-surface interaction (PSI) including material sample test and PSI diagnostic. The multi-purpose mid-plane manipulator system has a 4 m long cantilever structure with a 3 m long moving shaft. The system is equipped with a differential pumping system for the independent installation and removal of samples and diagnostic without vacuum break of KSTAR. The sample mounting head at the end of the shaft can reach the position of the outer boundary of ∼10 cm away from the last closed flux surface (LCFS). In this paper, selected PSI related experiments by using the manipulator are introduced.