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The detachment regime has a high potential to play an important role in fusion devices on the road to a fusion power plant. Complete power detachment has been observed several times during the experimental campaigns of the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) stellarator. Automatic observation and signaling of such events could help scientists to better understand these phenomena. With the growing discharge times in fusion devices, machine learning models and algorithms are a powerful tool to process the increasing amount of data. We investigate several classical supervised machine learning models to detect complete power detachment in the images captured by the Event Detection Intelligent Camera System (EDICAM) at the W7-X at each given image frame. In the dedicated detached state the plasma is stable despite its reduced contact with the machine walls and the radiation belt stays close to the separatrix, without exhibiting significant heat load onto the divertor. To decrease computational time and resources needed we propose certain pixel intensity profiles (or intensity values along lines) as the input to these models. After finding the profile that describes the images best in terms of detachment, we choose the best performing machine learning algorithm. It achieves an F1 score of 0.9836 on the training dataset and 0.9335 on the test set. Furthermore, we investigate its predictions in other scenarios, such as plasmas with substantially decreased minor radius and several magnetic configurations.

Electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) is a powerful and flexible plasma heating technique that serves as the main heater at Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) and will be used at ITER for start-up, heating, current drive and mitigation of plasma instabilities. In the case of poor or degraded microwave absorption, which is expected in the O2-mode heating scenario, a significant part of the beam directly hits the wall, leading to local overheating and potential damage. The ECRH shine-through power is mostly reflected onto the targets; only a small fraction is really absorbed through ohmic losses (typically 3% for graphite at 140 GHz). The ohmic losses do not only depend on the material properties and the frequency, but also on the polarization of the wave and the angle of incidence. This paper presents a thermographic analysis of ECRH experiments at W7-X, including heat load and temperature simulations of the first wall that include ECRH shine through. Two O-mode ECRH experiments with both a high temperature rise of the first wall and different angles of beam incidence on the wall's surface are depicted. One experiment has 775 kW of power modulation (5 Hz) with mixed polarization (45% O-mode, 55% X-mode) and an EC beam angle almost normal to the first wall. The second has 550 kW of steady EC power with O-mode polarization, a shallow beam angle and increased power absorption by the material. It is shown that infrared thermography is a useful tool for measuring shine-through power and protecting wall components. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electron temperature Te and density ne have been measured in the divertor island of Wendelstein 7-X by means of a new thermal He-beam system utilizing line-ratio spectroscopy. This system is equipped with a poloidal arrangement of five gas valves that allows to infer 2D plasma profiles Te(R,Z) and ne(R,Z) across the magnetic island forming the island divertor. A local maximum in Te(R,Z) was measured along the flux surfaces located between the island center and the outer separatrix. In the island center, characterized by closed field lines, a clear local minimum in Te was measured, indicating that no direct heat deposition occurs in this region and that the perpendicular heat flux from the core plasma into this domain is small. Increasing the island size leads to a reduction of the connection length in the scrape-off layer (SOL) and to a shift of the island center towards the divertor target. In this scenario, the Te(R,Z) are reduced in the entire island domain. Density profiles are found flat across the divertor island for both island size scenarios. These findings are supported by similar observations made with a reciprocating probe plunging through the same SOL island at the mid-plane of W7-X representing the upstream position in this 3D divertor geometry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plasma filaments have been observed by reciprocating electric probes in the Scrape-Off Layer (SOL) of the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator. Comparison with target probes indicates that a filament observed in the W7-X SOL extends to the sheath. Two-dimensional simulations of seeded filaments exhibit good quantitative agreement with experimental measurements in filament velocity scalings, despite an assumption of constant field line curvature. Both experiment and simulation show a slow radial propagation of filaments, indicating that filaments are essentially bound to their flux surface and do not perform ballistic radial motion. In contrast, the poloidal propagation along flux surfaces is much faster than the radial motion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we follow up on the results from our previous publication (Lobsien et al 2018 Nucl. Fusion58 106013), where it was found that stellarator coil design optimization can be substantially improved by using a stochastic optimisation approach. In that paper performance was quantified by lower (better) and more narrow (more robust) distributions of the penalty functions at the end of the optimisations. Here, we evaluate and compare the various coil sets of the previous paper but seek a verification and deeper understanding of the physics performance by replacing the relatively simple penalty function estimate with more accurate ones from state-of-the-art calculations of MHD stability, neoclassical transport in the -regime, fast particle confinement, and gyrokinetic behavior. The investigation shows that stochastic stellarator coil optimization generally outperforms the earlier non-stochastic stellarator optimization, also when using these more accurate metrics, generally confirming and quantifying the better performance. We do find some discrepancies, indicating that the penalty function does not represent a physics performance optimum perfectly. For example, as pointed out by others before us, the depth of the magnetic well is not a sufficiently good proxy for MHD stability, and the neoclassical transport can be significantly reduced in configurations that have relatively high field errors and therefore high penalty values. Thus, our work points to areas where better physics model inside the optimisation loop are needed, than what is currently represented by our penalty function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wendelstein 7-X is a low-shear stellarator with an island divertor, formed by natural magnetic islands at the plasma edge and ten modular divertor units for particle and energy exhaust. For the island divertor concept to work properly, the device is optimized for small internal currents. In particular, the bootstrap current is minimized. Previous studies predicted a thermal overload of the targets at a particular location, due to the slow evolution of the toroidal net current in the initial phase of certain otherwise desirable high-power discharges. The present numerical study explores the neoclassical predictions for the bootstrap current in more detail and demonstrates, as a proof of principle, that a path from low density and low heating power to high density and full heating power exists, on which the bootstrap current remains constant. This offers the possibility to reach the predetermined toroidal net current at low heating power, where no overload will occur in the transient phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The W7-X scrape-off layer (SOL) with its characteristic magnetic island chain has been investigated using electric probes mounted on a reciprocating manipulator close to the outboard mid-plane. A survey of the W7-X configuration space shows that the presence and particular topology of magnetic islands significantly affects the SOL profiles of electron temperature, density, electric field and plasma flows. Particularly relevant for divertor operation, very wide SOL heat flux profiles have been observed in some magnetic configurations, which we link to the presence of magnetic islands. In these situations, the islands can feature a local minimum of the plasma potential accompanied by a direction reversal of driven dynamics measured by probe arrays. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents procedures which have been developed for a quantitative analysis of the divertor power deposition at Wendelstein 7-X. The development of these tools is motivated by the need to compare and verify scientific and engineering predictions with experimental measurements. The measurements have been performed by means of the thermographic diagnostic system, capable of exploring the divertor heat loads, with the aim to study the heat load symmetry, compare footprint patterns with theoretical expectations, but also investigate leading edges and divertor misalignment. In order to compare measurements and numerical calculations, an accurate mapping between the camera data, the divertor geometry and the 3D CAD models has been constructed. This mapping allows to find a correspondence between the data in different representations, simplifying data interpolation and visualization. This also provides a high resolution model of the target surface to compare numerical heat deposition calculations with experimental results from different cameras. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, vacuum flux surface mapping is used to measure the error field in Wendelstein 7-X. Two methods for discriminating the perturbation from other co-resonant modes are applied: measurements of the helical axis shift in a magnetic configuration with the rotational transform barely above one on the axis; and measurements of the edge island structure with cancellation of intrinsic islands by divertor control coils. The normalized radial amplitude in Boozer coordinates is found to be about in the first case and about in the second one, with the discrepancy being attributable to different currents in the planar coils. The error field can be reliably compensated by using error field trim coils with currents about 100 A. This compensation also helps to identify the error field of about . During plasma operation in divertor configurations, it is confirmed that the present field leads to asymmetries in the power distribution and that the compensation improves this symmetry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Divertor target plates of magnetic confinement experiments are usually intersected by the magnetic field under a shallow angle. If steps are present in the target surface, the resulting leading edges will receive a strongly increased heat load as compared with the surrounding target surface. A very precise alignment of the target components is required to limit the height of leading edges in all magnetic configurations. In preparation of the initial divertor operation phase of the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator, we combined a model calculating the thermal load pattern on the targets for each magnetic configuration with a time-dependent model for heat transport within the targets, with a model for carbon sublimation and with measurements of step heights between target components to estimate the carbon sublimation rates to be expected. In a few locations of the as-built and as-installed divertor, these were found to be critically high, such that a limitation of plasma performance might have resulted. By re-aligning one type of target component according to the results of our modelling, the expected carbon sublimation rates were strongly reduced to uncritical levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently designed optimized stellarator experiments have suffered from very tight construction tolerances, but some level of deviation of the coil system is unavoidable during fabrication of the coils and assembly of the coil system. In this paper, we present a new approach that incorporates reduced sensitivity to construction tolerances of the coil system into the optimization sequence. The approach was tested within the framework of the existing coil optimization scheme for Wendelstein 7-X. The results are compared with those of a coil set obtained by the original optimization. The result is a more optimal coil system with less stringent tolerances, such that small deviations cause reduced deterioration of the properties important for fusion performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Plasma core fuelling is a key issue for the development of steady-state scenarios in large magnetically-confined fusion devices, in particular for helical-type machines. At present, cryogenic pellet injection is the most promising technique for efficient fuelling. Here, pellet ablation and fuelling efficiency experiments, using a compact pellet injector, are carried out in electron cyclotron resonance and neutral beam injection heated plasmas of the stellarator TJ-II. Ablation profiles are reconstructed from light emissions collected by silicon photodiodes and a fast-frame camera system, under the assumptions that such emissions are loosely related to the ablation rate and that pellet radial acceleration is negligible. In addition, pellet particle deposition and fuelling efficiency are determined using density profiles provided by a Thomson scattering system. Furthermore, experimental results are compared with ablation and deposition profiles provided by the HPI2 pellet code, which is adapted here for the stellarators Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) and TJ-II. Finally, the HPI2 code is used to simulate ablation and deposition profiles for pellets of different sizes and velocities injected into relevant W7-X plasma scenarios, while estimating the plasmoid drift and the fuelling efficiency of injections made from two W7-X ports. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The distribution of particles and power flux to plasma-facing components play a critical role in the design of next-generation fusion devices. In particular, it is a challenge to bring down the peak heat fluxes onto the divertor to manageable levels (of order 5 MW ). A large value of connection length (Lc) increases the role of cross-field transport and may lead to broader power deposition profile and lower peak heat fluxes. In low-shear stellarators like Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) very long connection lengths, about one order of magnitude longer than those of equal-sized tokamaks, can be achieved. The flexibility of W7-X coil system allows variation of connection lengths significantly. This paper describes numerical studies that identify magnetic configurations in W7-X with particularly large and particularly small Lc; thus, the effects of Lc on divertor operation can be effectively studied. It is found that a variation of a factor of 8 is possible, with average Lc values as large as 426 m for a configuration developed here. It is also shown that Lc itself, for a given magnetic configuration, varies strongly, potentially complicating an experimental analysis of its effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the first campaign Wendelstein 7-X was operated with five poloidal graphite limiters installed stellarator symmetrically. In an ideal situation the power losses would be equally distributed between the limiters. The limiter shape was designed to smoothly distribute the heat flux over two strike lines. Vertically the strike lines are not uniform because of different connection lengths. In this paper it is demonstrated both numerically and experimentally that the heat flux distribution can be significantly changed by non-resonant perturbation field of the order of . Numerical studies are performed with field line tracing. In experiments perturbation fields are excited with five error field trim coils. The limiters are diagnosed with infrared cameras, neutral gas pressure gauges, thermocouples and spectroscopic diagnostics. Experimental results are qualitatively consistent with the simulations. With a suitable choice of the phase and amplitude of the perturbation a more symmetric plasma-limiter interaction can be potentially achieved. These results are also of interest for the later W7-X divertor operation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The results of a first systematic assessment of plasma edge transport processes for the limiter startup configuration at Wendelstein 7-X are presented. This includes an investigation of transport from intrinsic and externally injected impurities and their impact on the power balance and limiter heat fluxes. The fully 3D coupled plasma fluid and kinetic neutral transport Monte Carlo code EMC3-EIRENE is used. The analysis of the magnetic topology shows that the poloidally and toroidally localized limiters cause a 3D helical scrape-off layer (SOL) consisting of magnetic flux tubes of three different connection lengths LC. The transport in the helical SOL is governed by LC as topological scale length for the parallel plasma loss channel to the limiters. A clear modulation of the plasma pressure with LC is seen. The helical flux tube topology results in counter streaming sonic plasma flows. The heterogeneous SOL plasma structure yields an uneven limiter heat load distribution with localized peaking. Assuming spatially constant anomalous transport coefficients, increasing plasma density yields a reduction of the maximum peak heat loads from 12 MWm−2 to 7.5 MWm−2 and a broadening of the deposited heat fluxes. The impact of impurities on the limiter heat loads is studied by assuming intrinsic carbon impurities eroded from the limiter surfaces with a gross chemical sputtering yield of 2. The resulting radiative losses account for less than 10% of the input power in the power balance with marginal impact on the limiter heat loads. It is shown that a significant mitigation of peak heat loads, 40–50%, can be achieved with controlled impurity seeding with nitrogen and neon, which is a method of particular interest for the later island divertor phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We present a theoretical/numerical predictive analysis of the performance of the W7-X island divertor under conditions of detachment characterized by intensive radiation. The analysis is based on EMC3-Eirene simulations and the earlier W7-AS experimental and numerical experience. Carbon is employed as a representative radiator. The associated drawbacks, i.e. core contamination and recycling degradation (reduced recycling flux), are evaluated by determining the carbon density at the last closed flux surface (LCFS) and the neutral pressure in the divertor chamber. Optimum conditions are explored in both configuration and plasma parameter space. This study aims to identify the key geometric/magnetic and plasma parameters that affect the performance of detached plasmas in W7-X. Emphasis is placed on what occurs when the islands are enlarged far beyond the maximum size available in W7-AS and whether an island size limit for optimal detachment operation exists, and why. Further issues addressed are the power removal ability of the W7-X edge islands, potentially limiting factors, compatibility between particle and power exhaust, and particle refueling capability of the recycling neutrals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]