Energetic particle transport in compact quasi-axisymmetric stellarators
- Plasma Physics Laboratory, Princeton University, P. O. Box 451, Princeton, New Jersey 08540 (United States)
Hamiltonian coordinate, guiding center code calculations of the confinement of suprathermal ions in quasi-axisymmetric stellarator (QAS) designs have been carried out to evaluate the attractiveness of compact configurations which are optimized for ballooning stability. A new stellarator particle following code is used to predict the confinement of thermal and neutral beam ions in a small experiment with R=145 cm, B=1{endash}2 T and for alpha particles in a reactor size device. As for tokamaks, collisional pitch angle scattering drives ions into ripple wells and stochastic field regions, where they are quickly lost. In contrast, however, such losses are enhanced in QAS so that high edge poloidal flux has limited value in improving ion confinement. The necessity for reduced stellarator ripple fields is emphasized. {copyright} {ital 1999 American Institute of Physics.}
- OSTI ID:
- 365979
- Journal Information:
- Physics of Plasmas, Journal Name: Physics of Plasmas Journal Issue: 9 Vol. 6; ISSN PHPAEN; ISSN 1070-664X
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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