Related papers: Collisionless microinstabilities in stellarators I…
This is the first of two papers about collisionless, electrostatic micro-instabilities in stellarators, with an emphasis on trapped-particle modes. It is found that, in so-called maximum-$J$ configurations, trapped-particle instabilities…
It is shown that in perfectly quasi-isodynamic stellarators, trapped particles with a bounce frequency much higher than the frequency of the instability are stabilizing in the electrostatic and collisionless limit. The collisionless…
Optimised stellarators and other magnetic-confinement devices having the property that the average magnetic curvature is favourable for all particle orbits are called maximum-$J$ devices, and have recently been shown to be immune to…
Electrostatic gyrokinetic instabilities and turbulence in the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator are studied. Particular attention is paid to the ion-temperature-gradient (ITG) instability and its character close to marginal stability…
In fusion devices, the geometry of the confining magnetic field has a significant impact on the instabilities that drive turbulent heat loss. This is especially true of stellarators, where the "trapped electron mode" (TEM) is stabilised if…
We investigate the linear theory of the ion-temperature-gradient (ITG) mode, with the goal of developing a general understanding that may be applied to stellarators. We highlight the Wendelstein 7X (W7-X) device. Simple fluid and kinetic…
The nonlinear gyrokinetic code GS2 has been extended to treat non-axisymmetric stellarator geometry. Electromagnetic perturbations and multiple trapped particle regions are allowed. Here, linear, collisionless, electrostatic simulations of…
Some stellarators tend to benefit from favourable average magnetic curvature for trapped particles when the plasma pressure is sufficiently high. This so-called maximum-$J$-property has several positive implications such as good…
To examine the robustness of the designed 5% $\beta$-limit for high-performance operation in the W7-X stellarator, we undertake nonlinear magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) simulations of pressure-driven instabilities using the M3D-$C^1$ code.…
Despite significant advances in reducing turbulent heat losses, modern quasi-isodynamic (QI) stellarators -- such as Stellaris -- continue to suffer from poor particle confinement, which fundamentally limits their overall performance. Using…
We present the first gyrokinetic simulations of multiscale turbulence in a stellarator, using the magnetic geometry of Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) and experimentally relevant parameters. A broad range of scenarios is explored, including regimes…
In this work, a comparison of the global gyrokinetic codes EUTERPE and GENE-3D in stellarator configurations of LHD and W7-X is carried out. In linear simulations with adiabatic electrons, excellent agreement is found in the mode numbers,…
The first experimental campaigns have proven that, due to the optimization of the magnetic configuration with respect to neoclassical transport, the contribution of turbulence is essential to understand and predict the total particle and…
Mercier's criterion is typically enforced as a hard operational limit in stellarator design. At the same time, past experimental and numerical studies have shown that this limit may often be surpassed, though the exact mechanism behind this…
We study the effect of turbulent transport in different magnetic configurations of the Weldenstein 7-X stellarator. In particular, we performed direct numerical simulations with the global gyrokinetic code GENE-3D, modeling the behavior of…
CIEMAT-QI4 is a quasi-isodynamic stellarator configuration that simultaneously features very good fast-ion confinement in a broad range of $\beta$ values, low neoclassical transport and bootstrap current, and ideal magnetohydrodynamic…
A new quasi-isodynamic stellarator configuration optimized for the confinement of energetic ions at low plasma $\beta$ is obtained. The numerical optimization is carried out using the STELLOPT suite of codes. New proxies to measure…
Efficient control of turbulent heat transport is crucial for magnetic confinement fusion reactors. This work discusses the complex interplay between density gradients and micro-instabilities, shedding light on their impact on turbulent heat…
Although the basic concept of a stellarator was known since the early days of fusion research, advances in computational technology have enabled the modelling of increasingly complicated devices, leading up to the construction of…
With the advent of neoclassically optimised stellarators, optimising stellarators for turbulent transport is an important next step. The reduction of ion-temperature-gradient-driven turbulence has been achieved via shaping of the magnetic…