We present a recent progress of the SG-II 5PW facility, which designed a multi-petawatt ultrashort pulse laser based on optical parametric chirped-pulse amplification (OPCPA). The prior two optical parametric amplifiers have been accomplished and chirped pulses with an energy of 49.7 J and a full-width-at-half-maximum (FWHM) spectrum bandwidth of 85 nm have been achieved. In the PW-scale optical parametric amplification (OPA), with the pump pulse that has an energy of 118 J from the second harmonic generation of the SG-II 7th beam, the pump-to-signal conversion efficiency is up to 41.9%, which to the best of our knowledge is the highest among all of the reported values for OPCPA systems. The compressed pulse is higher than 37 J in 21 fs (1.76 PW), and the focal spot is ${\sim}10~\unicode[STIX]{x03BC}\text{m}$ after the closed-loop corrections by the adaptive optics. Limited by the repetition of the pump laser, the SG-II 5PW facility operates one shot per hour. It has successfully been employed for high energy physics experiments.

The Keda Torus eXperiment (KTX) is a medium-sized reversed field pinch (RFP) device under construction at the University of Science and Technology of China. The KTX has a major radius of 1.4 m and a minor radius of 0.4 m with an Ohmic discharge current up to 1 MA. The expected electron density and temperature are, respectively, 2 × 10 19 m −3 and 800 eV. A combination of a stainless steel vacuum chamber and a thin copper shell (with a penetration time of 20 ms) surrounding the plasma provides an opportunity for studying resistive wall mode instabilities. The unique double-C design of the KTX vacuum vessel allows access to the interior of the KTX for easy first-wall modifications and investigations of power and particle handling, a largely unexplored territory in RFP research leading to demonstration of the fusion potential of the RFP concept. An active feedback mode control system is designed and will be implemented in the second phase of the KTX program. The recent progress of this program will be presented, including the design of the vacuum vessel, magnet systems and power supplies.

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Abstract-The Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) modular stellarator is in the assembly phase at the Max-Planck-Institut für Plasmaphysik in Greifswald, Germany. The design of the "basic machine", i.e. without in-vessel components, diagnostics and periphery, is largely completed, structural parameters such as bolt preload, initial conditions for contact elements, etc. are defined, and most of the components are manufactured and partly assembled. Therefore, the focus of structural analysis was shifted towards fast analyses of nonconformities, changes in the assembly procedure, and exploration of operational limits. Assembly-related work is expected to continue until commissioning of the machine, however, with decreasing intensity. In parallel the analysis requirements for in-vessel components, diagnostics and periphery will increase. This paper focuses on the most remarkable results, on special problems which had to be solved, on strategic issues like parameterization, complex finite element model structuring and benchmarking with alternative models in different codes, on assumptions of reasonable safety margins and expected tolerances, and on confirmation of analysis results by tests. Finally it highlights some lessons learned so far, which might be relevant also for other large fusion machines, and gives an outlook on future work.

The ASDEX Upgrade (AUG) programme, jointly run with the EUROfusion MST1 task force, continues to significantly enhance the physics base of ITER and DEMO. Here, the full tungsten wall is a key asset for extrapolating to future devices. The high overall heating power, flexible heating mix and comprehensive diagnostic set allows studies ranging from mimicking the scrape-off-layer and divertor conditions of ITER and DEMO at high density to fully non-inductive operation (q 95  =  5.5, ) at low density. Higher installed electron cyclotron resonance heating power   6 MW, new diagnostics and improved analysis techniques have further enhanced the capabilities of AUG. Stable high-density H-modes with MW m−1 with fully detached strike-points have been demonstrated. The ballooning instability close to the separatrix has been identified as a potential cause leading to the H-mode density limit and is also found to play an important role for the access to small edge-localized modes (ELMs). Density limit disruptions have been successfully avoided using a path-oriented approach to disruption handling and progress has been made in understanding the dissipation and avoidance of runaway electron beams. ELM suppression with resonant magnetic perturbations is now routinely achieved reaching transiently . This gives new insight into the field penetration physics, in particular with respect to plasma flows. Modelling agrees well with plasma response measurements and a helically localised ballooning structure observed prior to the ELM is evidence for the changed edge stability due to the magnetic perturbations. The impact of 3D perturbations on heat load patterns and fast-ion losses have been further elaborated. Progress has also been made in understanding the ELM cycle itself. Here, new fast measurements of and E r allow for inter ELM transport analysis confirming that E r is dominated by the diamagnetic term even for fast timescales. New analysis techniques allow detailed comparison of the ELM crash and are in good agreement with nonlinear MHD modelling. The observation of accelerated ions during the ELM crash can be seen as evidence for the reconnection during the ELM. As type-I ELMs (even mitigated) are likely not a viable operational regime in DEMO studies of ‘natural’ no ELM regimes have been extended. Stable I-modes up to have been characterised using -feedback. Core physics has been advanced by more detailed characterisation of the turbulence with new measurements such as the eddy tilt angle—measured for the first time—or the cross-phase angle of and fluctuations. These new data put strong constraints on gyro-kinetic turbulence modelling. In addition, carefully executed studies in different main species (H, D and He) and with different heating mixes highlight the importance of the collisional energy exchange for interpreting energy confinement. A new regime with a hollow profile now gives access to regimes mimicking aspects of burning plasma conditions and lead to nonlinear interactions of energetic particle modes despite the sub-Alfvénic beam energy. This will help to validate the fast-ion codes for predicting ITER and DEMO.

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The stress gradient hypothesis (SGH) predicts that the importance or intensity of competition and facilitation will change inversely along abiotic stress gradients. It was originally postulated that increasing environmental stress can induce a monotonic increase in facilitation. However, more recent models predicted that the relationship between severity and interaction exhibits a hump-shaped pattern, in which positive interactions prevail under moderate stress but decline at the extreme ends of stress gradients. In the present study, we conducted a field experiment along a temporal rainfall gradient for five consecutive years, in order to investigate interactions in a shrub-herbaceous plant community at the southern edge of the Badain Jaran Desert, and, more specifically, investigated the effects of Calligonum mongolicum, a dominant shrub species, on both abiotic environmental variables and the performance of sub-canopy plant species. We found that shrubs can improve sub-canopy water regimes, soil properties, plant biomass, density, cover, and richness and, more importantly, that the positive effect of shrubs on sub-canopy soil moisture during the summer diminishes as rainfall decreases, a pattern that partly explains the collapse of the positive interaction between shrubs and their understory plants. These results provide empirical evidence that the positive effect of shrubs on understory plant communities in extreme arid environments may decline and become neutral with increasing drought stress.

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