Discrete-Coil Investigations of Modular Stellarator Configurations

摘要

The existence of a vacuum magnetic well is generally accepted as a prerequisite to start-up. The special set of modular-stellarator configurations selected for the present computational investigation was derived from coefficients and equations that produced finite-beta wells in a continuous-current-sheet representation. The corresponding coils did not produce magnetic wells in a vacuum when their field configuration was investigated with a discrete-coil code. Vacuum magnetic wells have been identified through the use of this discrete-coil code in previous Heliac and stellarator studies. Therefore, these finite-beta magnetic wells could be the consequence of the continuous-current-sheet model: a conjecture that is supported by the linear scaling of the magnetic hills found in the present work as a function of the separation between the coils used. In addition to magnetic field profiles, comparisons are shown here of ripple, rotational transform, and flux-surface shapes for the discrete-coil, modular stellarators under study. Initially, each of the significant parameters affecting the shape of the control surface upon which the coils lie and the deformation of the individual coils was varied separately in search of a vacuum magnetic well in the parameter neighborhood of the successful finite-beta configuration. (ERA citation 11:006823)