arXiv subjects

Alkesh Punjabi

Publications and source records attributed to Alkesh Punjabi.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

The subtlety of the outermost stellarator magnetic surface

An analytic model of the magnetic field line behavior in a stellarator is used to study the subtlety of the concept of an outermost magnetic surface. The analytic model that we use has a central region of nested magnetic surfaces. The outermost perfectly confining surface has a toroidal flux of 0.86 of the toroidal flux of the outermost confining surface. The field lines in the annulus between these surfaces strike a distant wall, but they make tens of thousands of transits through a period of the stellarator before doing so. The number of transits is so large that this region can probably be viewed as having confining surfaces. Between the outermost confining surface and a surface at 1.02 times the toroidal flux field lines go to the walls in four flux tubes: two with inward flux and two with outward flux. One of the inward-outward pairs of flux tubes are adjoining and the other pair is separated. When the toroidal flux is greater than 1.02 of that of the outermost confining surface approximately 85% of the field lines strike the wall before transiting a single period. The loss of plasma from this region is so fast compared to cross-field plasma diffusion that they are probably irrelevant to the study of divertors. In addition to the two inward-outward flux tube pairs that escape from the region inside 1.02 times the flux of the confining region, the outer region has two new inward-outward of flux-tube pairs; one adjoining and one separated.

nlin.CD↗

arXiv2025

The topology of non-resonant stellarator divertors

We apply topological methods to better understand how the magnetic field in the stellarator edge can be diverted away from the confined region. Our primary method is calculating the winding numbers of closed contours, which gives information on the number and nature of fixed points within a bounded region. We first apply this to the non-resonant divertor (NRD) Hamiltonian system, and present a simple explanation for the system's diversion: trajectories are guided away from the confined region by X-points which are "unpaired" i.e. do not have corresponding O-points and therefore do not resemble an island chain. We show how similar phenomena can occur in a similar, axisymmetric Hamiltonian system. Secondly, we find examples of neoclassically optimised stellarators in the QUASR database which divert the magnetic field via unpaired X-points. We present and discuss three examples, each containing novel phenomena which might be desirable for stellarator divertors. These findings broaden the horizons of how magnetic fields can be diverted in realistic stellarators, and may be attractive for future experiments and stellarator reactor design.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2024

A new type of stellarator divertor: the hybrid stellarator divertor

A new type of stellarator divertor is found. It has features of both a nonresonant divertor (A. Punjabi and A. H. Boozer, Phys. Plasmas 27, 012503 (2020)) as well as a resonant divertor. It has the outermost confining surface with sharp edges and large islands outside the outermost surface. For this reason, we have called it hybrid divertor. This divertor can be configured by adjusting the currents in external coils which produce nonresonant perturbations. We have simulated this divertor using the method developed in (A. H. Boozer and A. Punjabi, Phys. Plasmas 25, 092520 (2018)). The simulation shows that the footprints have fixed locations on the wall and are stellarator symmetric. The magnetic field lines leave and enter the outermost surface through three magnetic turnstiles. The probability exponents of the three turnstiles are 2.1, 2.25, and 4.3. The hybrid divertor confines larger plasma volume, has higher average shear, larger footprints, lower average density of strike points, lower maximum density of strike points, and longer loss-times than the nonresonant stellarator divertor. The hybrid divertor is robust against small changes in the rotational transform and large changes in the shape parameter that controls the sharp edges on the outermost confining surface.

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2021

Magnetic turnstiles in nonresonant stellarator divertor

Non-resonant stellarator divertors have magnetic flux tubes, called magnetic turnstiles, that cross cantori, which are fractal remnants of destroyed invariant tori with holes, that lie outside the outermost confining surface. The exiting and entering flux tubes can be adjacent as is generally expected but can also have the unexpected feature of entering or exiting at separate locations of the cantori. Not only can there be two types of turnstiles, but pseudo turnstiles can also exist. A pseudo turnstile is formed when a cantorus has a sufficiently large, although limited, radial excursion to strike a surrounding chamber wall. The existence of non-adjacent and adjacent turnstiles and pseudo turnstiles resolves issues that arose in earlier simulations of nonresonant stellarator divertors [A. Punjabi and A. H. Boozer, Phys. Plasmas 27, 012503 (2020)].

physics.plasm-ph↗

arXiv2021

Simulation of non-resonant stellarator divertor

An efficient numerical method of studying nonresonant stellarator divertors was introduced in Boozer and Punjabi [Phys. Plasmas 25, 092505 (2018)]. This method is used in this paper to study a different magnetic field model of a nonresonant divertor. The most novel and interesting finding of this study is that diffusive magnetic field lines can be distinguished from lines that exit through the primary and the secondary turnstile, and that below some diffusive velocity, all lines exit through only the primary turnstile. The footprints of each family are stellarator symmetric and have a fixed location on the wall for all velocities. The probability exponent of the primary turnstile is d1 = 9/4 and that of the secondary turnstile is d2 = 3/2. This study also addresses the issues of an inadequate separation of the chamber walls from the outermost confining magnetic surface and a marginal step size of the numerical integrations that could compromise the interpretation of the earlier results [Boozer and Punjabi, Phys. Plasmas 25, 092505 (2018)]. The previous value of d1 = 2 is within the error bar of d1 = 9/4 estimated here.

physics.plasm-ph↗