Demonstration of reduced neoclassical energy transport in Wendelstein 7-X.

Research on magnetic confinement of high-temperature plasmas has the ultimate goal of harnessing nuclear fusion for the production of electricity. Although the tokamak1 is the leading toroidal magnetic-confinement concept, it is not without shortcomings and the fusion community has therefore also pursued alternative concepts such as the stellarator. Unlike axisymmetric tokamaks, stellarators possess a three-dimensional (3D) magnetic field geometry. The availability of this additional dimension opens up an extensive configuration space for computational optimization of both the field geometry itself and the current-carrying coils that produce it. Such an optimization was undertaken in designing Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X)2, a large helical-axis advanced stellarator (HELIAS), which began operation in 2015 at Greifswald, Germany. A major drawback of 3D magnetic field geometry, however, is that it introduces a strong temperature dependence into the stellarator's non-turbulent 'neoclassical' energy transport. Indeed, such energy losses will become prohibitive in high-temperature reactor plasmas unless a strong reduction of the geometrical factor associated with this transport can be achieved; such a reduction was therefore a principal goal of the design of W7-X. In spite of the modest heating power currently available, W7-X has already been able to achieve high-temperature plasma conditions during its 2017 and 2018 experimental campaigns, producing record values of the fusion triple product for such stellarator plasmas3,4. The triple product of plasma density, ion temperature and energy confinement time is used in fusion research as a figure of merit, as it must attain a certain threshold value before net-energy-producing operation of a reactor becomes possible1,5. Here we demonstrate that such record values provide evidence for reduced neoclassical energy transport in W7-X, as the plasma profiles that produced these results could not have been obtained in stellarators lacking a comparably high level of neoclassical optimization.

Plasma impurities observed by a pulse height analysis diagnostic during the divertor campaign of the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator.

The paper reports on the optimization process of the soft X-ray pulse height analyzer installed on the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) stellarator. It is a 3-channel system that records X-ray spectra in the range from 0.6 to 19.6 keV. X-ray spectra, with a temporal and spatial resolution of 100 ms and 2.5 cm (depending on selected slit sizes), respectively, are line integrated along a line-of-sight that crosses near to the plasma center. In the second W7-X operation phase with a carbon test divertor unit, light impurities, e.g., carbon and oxygen, were observed as well as mid- to high-Z elements, e.g., sulfur, chlorine, chromium, manganese, iron, and nickel. In addition, X-ray lines from several tracer elements have been observed after the laser blow-off injection of different impurities, e.g., silicon, titanium, and iron, and during discharges with prefill or a gas puff of neon or argon. These measurements were achieved by optimizing light absorber-foil selection, which defines the detected energy range, and remotely controlled pinhole size, which defines photon flux. The identification of X-ray lines was confirmed by other spectroscopic diagnostics, e.g., by the High-Efficiency XUV Overview Spectrometer, HEXOS, and high-resolution X-ray imaging spectrometer, HR-XIS.

Design, capabilities, and first results of the new laser blow-off system on Wendelstein 7-X.

We present a detailed overview and first results of the new laser blow-off system on the stellarator Wendelstein 7-X. The system allows impurity transport studies by the repetitive and controlled injection of different tracer ions into the plasma edge. A Nd:YAG laser is used to ablate a thin metal film, coated on a glass plate, with a repetition rate of up to 20 Hz. A remote-controlled adjustable optical system allows the variation of the laser spot diameter and enables the spot positioning to non-ablated areas on the target between laser pulses. During first experiments, clear spectral lines from higher ionization stages of the tracer ions have been observed in the X-ray to the extreme ultraviolet spectral range. The temporal behavior of the measured emission allows the estimate of transport properties, e.g., impurity transport times in the order of 100 ms. Although the strong injection of impurities is well detectable, the global plasma parameters are barely changed.

Metallization of hydrogen using heavy-ion-beam implosion of multilayered cylindrical targets.

Employing a two-dimensional simulation model, this paper presents a suitable design for an experiment to study metallization of hydrogen in a heavy-ion beam imploded multilayered cylindrical target that contains a layer of frozen hydrogen. Such an experiment will be carried out at the upgraded heavy-ion synchrotron facility (SIS-18) at the Gesellschaft für Schwerionenforschung, Darmstadt by the end of the year 2001. In these calculations we consider a uranium beam that will be available at the upgraded SIS-18. Our calculations show that it may be possible to achieve theoretically predicted physical conditions necessary to create metallic hydrogen in such experiments. These include a density of about 1 g/cm(3), a pressure of 3-5 Mbar, and a temperature of a few 0.1 eV.

Shaping of intense ion beams into hollow cylindrical form

A specifically tailored plasma lens could shape a high-energy, heavy-ion beam into the form of a hollow cylinder without loss of beam intensity. It has been experimentally confirmed that both a positive as well as a negative radial gradient of the current density in the active plasma lens can be the underlying principle. Calculations were performed that yield the ideal current density distribution for both cases. A numerical simulation of an experiment with an intense ion beam highlights that the shaping of the beam increases the achievable compression in a lead sample.

Equation-of-state properties of high-energy-density matter using intense heavy ion beams with an annular focal spot

This paper presents two-dimensional numerical simulations of the hydrodynamic response of solid as well as hollow cylindrical targets made of lead that are irradiated by an intense beam of uranium ions which has an annular focal spot. Using a particle tracking computer code, it has been shown that a plasma lens can generate such a beam with parameters used in the calculations presented in this paper. The total number of particles in the beam is 2x10(11) and the particle energy is about 200 MeV/u that means a total energy of approximately 1.5 kJ. This energy is delivered in a pulse that is 50 ns long. These beam parameters lead to a specific energy deposition of 50-100 kJ/g and a specific power deposition of 1-2 TW/g in solid matter. These calculations show that in case of the solid lead cylinder, it may be possible to achieve more than 4 times solid lead density along the cylinder axis at the time of maximum compression. The pressure in the compressed region is about 20 Mbar and the temperature is a few eV. In the case of a hollow cylinder, one also achieves the same degree of compression but now the temperature in the compressed region is much higher (over 10 eV). Such samples of highly compressed matter can be used to study the equation-of-state properties of high-energy-density matter. It is expected that by the end of the year 2001, after completion of the upgrade of the existing facilities, the above beam parameters will be available at the Gesellschaft fur Schwerionenforschung (GSI), Darmstadt. This will open up the possibility to carry out very interesting experiments on a number of important problems including the investigation of the EOS of high-energy-density matter.

Shock compression of condensed matter using intense beams of energetic heavy ions

In this paper is presented, with the help of sophisticated two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations, a suitable design with optimized parameters for a heavy-ion beam-matter interaction experiment that will be carried out at the Gesellschaft fur Schwerionenforschung (GSI) Darmstadt by the end of the year 2001 when the upgrade of the existing accelerator facility will be completed. Our simulations show that this upgraded heavy-ion beam is capable of generating strong shocks in solid targets that compress the target material to supersolid densities and generate multi-mbar pressures. This will open up, at the GSI, the possibility of investigation of the equation-of-state properties of matter under such extreme conditions. Numerical simulations can predict the experimental results with reasonable accuracy, which is helpful in designing the diagnostic tools for the experiment.