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Related papers: Optimizing stellarators for large flows

200 papers

The gyrokinetic theory of the residual flow, in the electrostatic limit, is revisited, with optimized stellarators in mind. We consider general initial conditions for the problem, and identify cases that lead to a non-zonal residual…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2024-04-12 G. G. Plunk , P. Helander

The linear collisionless plasma response to a zonal-density perturbation in quasisymmetric stellarators is studied, including the geodesic-acoustic-mode oscillations and the Rosenbluth--Hinton residual flow. While the geodesic-acoustic-mode…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2025-02-05 Hongxuan Zhu , Z. Lin , A. Bhattacharjee

A heat flux in a high-$\beta$ plasma with low collisionality triggers the whistler instability. Quasilinear theory predicts saturation of the instability in a marginal state characterized by a heat flux that is fully controlled by electron…

High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena · Physics 2018-07-18 S. Komarov , A. Schekochihin , E. Churazov , A. Spitkovsky

We draw attention to an interesting possibility in the design and operation of stellarator fusion reactors, which has hitherto been considered unrealistic under burning-plasma conditions. Thanks to recent advances in stellarator…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2024-05-30 Per Helander , Alan G. Goodman , Craig D. Beidler , Michal Kuczyński , Håkan M. Smith

A new type of quasi-two-dimensional complex plasma system was observed which consisted of monodisperse microspheres and their binary agglomerations (dimers). The particles and their dimers levitated in a plasma sheath at slightly different…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2016-05-25 M. Chaudhuri , I. Semenov , V. Nosenko , H. M. Thomas

The linear collisionless damping of zonal flows is calculated for quasi-symmetric stellarator equilibria in flux-tube, flux-surface, and full-volume geometry. Equilibria are studied from the quasi-helical symmetry configuration of the…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2023-08-15 J. Smoniewski , E. Sánchez , I. Calvo , M. J. Pueschel , J. N. Talmadge

The bootstrap current and flow velocity of a low-collisionality stellarator plasma are calculated. As far as possible, the analysis is carried out in a uniform way across all low-collisionality regimes in general stellarator geometry,…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2017-05-24 P. Helander , F. I. Parra , S. L. Newton

There is currently no agreed-upon methodology for characterizing a stellarator magnetic field geometry, and yet modern stellarator designs routinely attain high levels of magnetic-field quasi-symmetry through careful flux-surface shaping.…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2026-01-01 M. J. Gerard , M. J. Pueschel , S. Stewart , H. O. M. Hillebrecht , B. Geiger

Global gyrokinetic simulations find a strong suppression of ion temperature gradient (ITG) turbulence by zonal flows in stellarators optimized for neoclassical transport. The reduction of the ITG transport by the zonal flows in…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2025-05-29 Haotian Chen , Xishuo Wei , Hongxuan Zhu , Zhihong Lin

As first shown by Shafranov, toroidal plasmas in magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium tend to expand in major radius when the pressure is increased. Here, an average measure of the resulting Shafranov shift is introduced, and its properties are…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2026-05-22 Per Helander , Nikita Nikulsin

Optimized stellarator configurations and their analytical properties are obtained using a near-axis expansion approach. Such configurations are associated with good confinement as the guiding center particle trajectories and neoclassical…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2020-08-26 R. Jorge , W. Sengupta , M. Landreman

Integrating turbulence into stellarator optimization is shown by targeting the onset for the ion-temperature-gradient mode, highlighting effects of parallel connection length, local magnetic shear, and flux surface expansion. The result is…

(Abridged) We describe the cascade of plasma waves or turbulence injected, presumably by reconnection, at scales comparable to the size of a solar flare loop to scales comparable to particle gyroradii, and evaluate their damping by various…

Astrophysics · Physics 2009-11-13 Vahe Petrosian , Huirong Yan , Alex Lazarian

Microscopic instability and macroscopic flow pattern resulting from colliding plasmas are studied analytically in support of laboratory experiments. The plasma flows are assumed to stream radially from two separate centers. In a…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2018-11-13 Mikhail Malkov , Vladimir Sotnikov

Understanding particle drifts in a non-symmetric magnetic field is of primary interest in designing optimized stellarators to minimize the neoclassical radial loss of particles. Quasisymmetry and omnigeneity, two distinct properties…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2020-04-29 E. Elbarmi , W. Sengupta , H. Weitzner

In tokamak plasmas, sheared flows perpendicular to the driving temperature gradients can strongly stabilize linear modes. While the system is linearly stable, regimes with persistent nonlinear turbulence may develop, i.e. the system is…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2019-01-16 Ben F. McMillan , Chris C. T. Pringle , Bogdan Teaca

It is shown that the magnetic-field coils of a stellarator can, at least in principle, be substantially simplified by the use of permanent magnets. Such magnets cannot create toroidal magnetic flux but they can be used to shape the plasma…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2020-03-11 P. Helander , M. Drevlak , M. Zarnstorff , S. C. Cowley

Bootstrap current in stellarators can be presented as a sum of a collisionless value given by the Shaing-Callen asymptotic formula and an off-set current, which non-trivially depends on plasma collisionality and radial electric field. Using…

The stellarator is a type of fusion energy device that - if properly designed - could provide clean, safe, and abundant energy to the grid. To generate this energy, a stellarator must keep a hot mixture of charged particles (known as a…

We show that in perfectly quasi-isodynamic magnetic fields, which are generally non-quasisymmetric and which can approximate fields of experimental interest, neoclassical calculations can be carried out analytically more completely than in…

Plasma Physics · Physics 2010-11-24 Matt Landreman , Peter J Catto