MoEDAL: Seeking magnetic monopoles and more at the LHC

The MoEDAL experiment (Monopole and Exotics Detector at the LHC) is designed to directly search for magnetic monopoles and other highly ionising stable or metastable particles arising in various theoretical scenarios beyond the Standard Model. Its physics goals --largely complementary to the multi-purpose LHC detectors ATLAS and CMS-- are accomplished by the deployment of plastic nuclear track detectors combined with trapping volumes for capturing charged highly ionising particles and TimePix pixel devices for monitoring. This paper focuses on the status of the detectors and the prospects for LHC Run II