Operational characteristics of the high flux plasma generator Magnum-PSI

•We have described the design and capabilities of the plasma experiment Magnum-PSI.•The plasma conditions are well suited for PSI studies in support of ITER.•Quasi steady state heat fluxes over 10 MW m−2 have been achieved.•Transient heat and particle loads can be generated to simulate ELM instabilities.•Lithium coating can be applied to the surfaces of samples under vacuum.

In Magnum-PSI (MAgnetized plasma Generator and NUMerical modeling for Plasma Surface Interactions), the high density, low temperature plasma of a wall stabilized dc cascaded arc is confined to a magnetized plasma beam by a quasi-steady state axial magnetic field up to 1.3 T. It aims at conditions that enable fundamental studies of plasma–surface interactions in the regime relevant for fusion reactors such as ITER: 1023–1025 m−2 s−1 hydrogen plasma flux densities at 1–5 eV. To study the effects of transient heat loads on a plasma-facing surface, a high power pulsed magnetized arc discharge has been developed. Additionally, the target surface can be transiently heated with a pulsed laser system during plasma exposure. In this contribution, the current status, capabilities and performance of Magnum-PSI are presented.