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Magnetic Fields with Precise Quasisymmetry for Plasma Confinement

Matt Landreman and Elizabeth Paul
Phys. Rev. Lett. 128, 035001 – Published 18 January 2022
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Abstract

Quasisymmetry is an unusual symmetry that can be present in toroidal magnetic fields, enabling the confinement of charged particles and plasma. Here it is shown that both quasiaxisymmetry and quasihelical symmetry can be achieved to a much higher precision than previously thought over a significant volume, resulting in exceptional confinement. For a 1 Tesla mean field far from axisymmetry (vacuum rotational transform >0.4), symmetry-breaking mode amplitudes throughout a volume of aspect ratio 6 can be made as small as the typical 50μT geomagnetic field.

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  • Received 8 August 2021
  • Revised 4 November 2021
  • Accepted 17 November 2021

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.128.035001

© 2022 American Physical Society

Physics Subject Headings (PhySH)

Plasma Physics

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Quasisymmetric Stellarators

Published 18 January 2022

Magnetic-field configurations that improve confinement of fusion plasmas in stellarators can be achieved more precisely than previously thought, according to a numerical study.

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Authors & Affiliations

Matt Landreman*

  • Institute for Research in Electronics and Applied Physics, University of Maryland, College Park, Maryland 20742, USA

Elizabeth Paul

  • Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544, USA

  • *mattland@umd.edu

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Issue

Vol. 128, Iss. 3 — 21 January 2022

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