Speaker: Hiroyuki Yamaguchi, National Institute for Fusion Studies
Abstract: Stellarators/heliotrons are plasma devices that can confine plasma in a toroidal shape primarily by a magnetic field produced by external magnets. In the field of magnetic confinement fusion research, one of the challenges is the optimization of stellarators/heliotrons. In this seminar, stellarator/heliotron optimization techniques developed at National Institute for Fusion Science (NIFS, Japan) and their recent application will be explained. Optimization applying a free-form curve and the genetic algorithm will be highlighted as a very unique aspect of this technique. Interestingly, it has been found that the numerically-optimized magnetic configurations that are usually generated by crowded modular coils can be reproduced well even by a small number of helical coils.