A new quasi-isodynamic (QI) stellarator configuration optimized for the confinement of energetic ions at low plasma β is obtained. The numerical optimization is carried out using the STELLOPT suite of… Click to show full abstract
A new quasi-isodynamic (QI) stellarator configuration optimized for the confinement of energetic ions at low plasma β is obtained. The numerical optimization is carried out using the STELLOPT suite of codes. New proxies to measure closeness to quasi-isodynamicity and quality of fast ion confinement have been included. The new configuration has poloidally closed contours of magnetic field strength, low magnetic shear and a rotational transform profile allowing an island divertor. It shows ideal and ballooning magnetohydrodynamic stability up to β=5% , reduced effective ripple, with ϵeff<0.5% in the plasma core. Even at low β, the configuration approximately satisfies the maximum-J property, and the confinement of fast ions is good at β∼1.5% and becomes excellent at reactor values, β∼4% . An evaluation of the D 31 neoclassical mono-energetic coefficient supports the expectation of a reduced bootstrap current for plasmas confined in QI configurations. A set of filamentary coils that preserve the good confinement of fast ions in the core is presented.
               
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