Thanks to the multitude of shapes available, we can optimise stellarators even for turbulence.
Plasma turbulence is one of the last fundamental obstacles to harnessing nuclear fusion for power generation. The stellarator concept, which is presently seeing the successful operation of the Wendelstein 7-X experiment, can potentially be optimized to make turbulence negligible. However, in W7-X the magnetic field geometry is optimized for good confinement only. Due to the computational expense of direct numerical turbulence simulation in 3D stellarator geometry, and the lack of accurate reduced predictive models, turbulence could not be incorporated in the optimisation of the design. But it must, if the stellarator concept is to be a power plant candidate.
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News
Alternative road to nuclear fusion
December 11, 2019
The description 'recreating the Sun on earth' is sometimes applied to the nuclear fusion reactor, but a consensus among scientists about just how this 'Sun' can best be tamed has not yet been reached. Plasma expert Josefine Proll is a fan of the stellarator reactor, an alternative for the more mainstream tokamak recently revived. With a new NWO grant, she hopes to give this technology a decisive advantage. Read more
Article 'Fusing different areas of plasma research' in Nature Research
NWO grant for new nuclear fusion reactor
July 16, 2019
Researcher Josefine Proll will investigate new ways to minimise turbulence in fusion reactors. Read more
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Recent Publications
Our most recent peer reviewed publications
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Enhanced Transport at High Plasma Pressure and Subthreshold Kinetic Ballooning Modes in Wendelstein 7-X
Physical Review Letters (2023) -
The available energy of trapped electrons
Journal of Plasma Physics (2023) -
Available energy of trapped electrons in Miller tokamak equilibria
Journal of Plasma Physics (2023) -
Trapped-particle precession and modes in quasisymmetric stellarators and tokamaks
Journal of Plasma Physics (2023) -
The effect of pressure anisotropy on 3-D MHD stability for low magnetic field LHD equilibria
Journal of Plasma Physics (2023)