The optimized, superconducting stellarator Wendelstein 7-X went into operation and delivered first measurement data after 15 years of construction and one year commissioning. Errors in the magnet ...assembly were confirmend to be small. Plasma operation was started with 5 MW electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) power and five inboard limiters. Core plasma values of Te>8 keV, Ti>2 keV at line-integrated densities n≈3⋅1019 m−2 were achieved, exceeding the original expectations by about a factor of two. Indications for a core-electron-root were found. The energy confinement times are in line with the international stellarator scaling, despite unfavourable wall conditions, i.e. large areas of metal surfaces and particle sources from the limiter close to the plasma volume. Well controlled shorter hydrogen discharges at higher power (4 MW ECRH power for 1 s) and longer discharges at lower power (0.7 MW ECRH power for 6 s) could be routinely established after proper wall conditioning. The fairly large set of diagnostic systems running in the end of the 10 weeks operation campaign provided first insights into expected and unexpected physics of optimized stellarators.
We assess the magnetic field configuration in modern fusion devices by comparing experiments with the same heating power, between a stellarator and a heliotron. The key role of turbulence is evident ...in the optimized stellarator, while neoclassical processes largely determine the transport in the heliotron device. Gyrokinetic simulations elucidate the underlying mechanisms promoting stronger ion scale turbulence in the stellarator. Similar plasma performances in these experiments suggests that neoclassical and turbulent transport should both be optimized in next step reactor designs.
During the two most recent experimental campaigns in the advanced stellarator Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) (Klinger et al 2017 Plasma Phys. Control. Fusion 59 014018; Bosch et al 2017 Nucl. Fusion 57 ...116015; Wolf et al 2017 Nucl. Fusion 57 102020; Pedersen et al 2017 Phys. Plasmas 24 0555030) hydrogen ice pellet injection was performed for the first time. In order to investigate the potential of pellet fueling in W7-X and to study the particle deposition in a large stellarator, a blower-gun system was installed with 40 pellets capability. The experience gained with this system will be used for the specification of a future steady-state pellet injector system. One important motivation for a pellet injector (Dibon 2014 Master-Thesis Technical University Munich, Max-Planck Institut IPP) on W7-X is the mitigation of hollow density profiles expected in case of predominant neoclassical transport. For long-pulse operation of up to 30 min, only electron cyclotron resonance heating is available on W7-X. Hence, pellet injection will be the only source for deep particle fueling. Deep particle fueling by pellets in tokamaks is supported by a grad-B drift, if the pellets are injected from the magnetic high-field-side. This approach was tested in W7-X, as well. The injection of series of pellets was also tested. Here, deep fueling is supported for later pellets in the series by the plasma cooling following the initial pellets in the same series. As in earlier experiments in the heliotron LHD (Takeiri et al 2017 Nucl. Fusion 57 102023), deep and rapid fueling could be achieved successfully in W7-X.