ASDEX

ASDEX, short for Axially Symmetric Divertor EXperiment, is a tokamak device developed and operated by the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics (IPP) in Garching, near Munich, Germany. It was designed to study the physics of the tokamak divertor, a system intended to remove heat and particles from the edge of the plasma while minimizing impurities that degrade performance. ASDEX contributed to the early development of divertor concepts and plasma-material interaction research, informing the design of later reactors and experimental facilities.

Operational in the 1980s, ASDEX implemented a divertor configuration that allowed researchers to explore how to control heat and impurity exhaust in a magnetically confined plasma. The machine employed a combination of toroidal and poloidal magnetic fields to create a single-null divertor geometry, with the divertor region lined by carbon-based (graphite) tiles and cooled systems to handle the imposed heat loads. The facility was equipped for neutral beam injection heating and diagnostics to study edge plasma behavior, impurity transport, and confinement in the presence of a divertor.

In the early 1990s, ASDEX was upgraded and transformed into ASDEX Upgrade (AUG). The upgrade involved substantial enhancements to heating power, magnetic coil capabilities, and divertor architecture, aligning the machine with ITER-relevant divertor and edge-plasma research. AUG became a leading European facility for investigations into detachment, edge-localized modes (ELMs), tungsten and other high-Z wall materials, and the physics of power and particle exhaust in tokamaks.

Today, ASDEX Upgrade continues the lineage of ASDEX, contributing to the broader understanding of edge and divertor physics and informing the development of future fusion devices.