Advances in optimization for stellarator design

Elizabeth Paul

Columbia University

Tuesday, May 21, 2024

12:00pm

NW17-218 Hybrid

Add to CalendarApple CalendarGoogleOutlookYahoo

PSFC Seminars

Abstract: Stellarators magnetically confine plasmas without externally-driven current, reducing the recirculating power and drive for current-driven instabilities in an FPP. Modern stellarators such as Wendelstein 7-X have demonstrated the success of numerical optimization of the magnetic field for improved confinement. The immense freedom in the stellarator design space provides opportunities for reducing engineering complexity and improving performance. This talk will provide an overview of recent advances in stellarator optimization and their application to the design of new experiments in the Columbia Plasma Laboratory. Recently, “precisely quasisymmetric” configurations have been obtained, demonstrating excellent confinement of fusion-born alpha particles in the absence of perturbations. We present pathways to model and optimize the alpha transport driven by Alfvenic instabilities through modification of the resonance structure and shear Alfven continuum. We discuss the incorporation of engineering constraints, such as HTS strain and remote maintenance compatibility, into the stellarator design process. The Columbia Stellarator eXperiment (CSX) will build on the success of the Columbia Non-neutral Torus (CNT) to confine a small aspect ratio quasisymmetric plasma with two shaped interlinked coils.

This device will serve as validation of stellarator modeling advances and demonstration of non-insulated HTS technology for non-planar magnets.

Bio: Elizabeth Paul is an Assistant Professor of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics at Columbia University. She leads of group of postdocs and students in computational and theoretical modeling of stellarators. Prior to joining Columbia University, Dr. Paul was a Presidential Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Princeton University. Dr.

Paul received her A. B. in Astrophysical Sciences with concentrations in Applied and Computational Mathematics and Applications of Computing from Princeton University in 2015. In 2020 she received her Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Maryland, College Park. In 2021 Dr. Paul received the Marshall N. Rosenbluth Award from the American Physical Society in recognition of her doctoral work.