The theoretical and experimental development of stellarators has removed some of the specific deficiencies of this configuration, viz., the limitations in β, the high neoclassical transport, and the low collisionless confinement of α particles. These optimized stellarators can best be realized with a modular coil system. The W7-AS experiment [Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 31, 1579 (1989)] has successfully demonstrated two aspects of advanced stellarators, the improved equilibrium and the modular coil concept. Stellarator optimization will much more viably be demonstrated by W7-X [Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion Research, Proceedings of the 12th International Conference, Nice, 1988 (IAEA, Vienna, 1989), Vol. 2, p. 369], the successor experiment presently under design. Optimized stellarators seem to offer an independent reactor option. In addition, they supplement, in a unique form, the toroidal confinement fusion program, e.g., energy transport is anomalous in stellarators too, but possibly more easily understandable in the frame of existing theoretical concepts than in tokamaks.

Wendelstein 7-AS was the first modular stellarator device to test some basic elements of stellarator optimization: a reduced Shafranov shift and improved stability properties resulted in β-values up to 3.4% (at 0.9 T). This operational limit was determined by power balance and impurity radiation without noticeable degradation of stability or a violent collapse. The partial reduction of neoclassical transport could be verified in agreement with calculations indicating the feasibility of the concept of drift optimization. A full neoclassical optimization, in particular a minimization of the bootstrap current was beyond the scope of this project. A variety of non-ohmic heating and current drive scenarios by ICRH, NBI and in particular, ECRH were tested and compared

Demonstrating improved confinement of energetic ions is one of the key goals of the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) stellarator. In the past campaigns, measuring confined fast ions has proven to be challenging. Future deuterium campaigns would open up the option of using fusion-produced neutrons to indirectly observe confined fast ions. There are two neutron populations: 2.45 MeV neutrons from thermonuclear and beam-target fusion, and 14.1 MeV neutrons from DT reactions between tritium fusion products and bulk deuterium. The 14.1 MeV neutron signal can be measured using a scintillating fiber neutron detector, whereas the overall neutron rate is monitored by common radiation safety detectors, for instance fission chambers. The fusion rates are dependent on the slowing-down distribution of the deuterium and tritium ions, which in turn depend on the magnetic configuration via fast ion orbits. In this work, we investigate the effect of magnetic configuration on neutron production rates in W7-X. The neutral beam injection, beam and triton slowing-down distributions, and the fusion reactivity are simulated with the ASCOT suite of codes. The results indicate that the magnetic configuration has only a small effect on the production of 2.45 MeV neutrons from DD fusion and, particularly, on the 14.1 MeV neutron production rates. Despite triton losses of up to 50 %, the amount of 14.1 MeV neutrons produced might be sufficient for a time-resolved detection using a scintillating fiber detector, although only in high-performance discharges.

After completing the main construction phase of Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) and successfully commissioning the device, first plasma operation started at the end of 2015. Integral commissioning of plasma start-up and operation using electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) and an extensive set of plasma diagnostics have been completed, allowing initial physics studies during the first operational campaign. Both in helium and hydrogen, plasma breakdown was easily achieved. Gaining experience with plasma vessel conditioning, discharge lengths could be extended gradually. Eventually, discharges lasted up to 6 s, reaching an injected energy of 4 MJ, which is twice the limit originally agreed for the limiter configuration employed during the first operational campaign. At power levels of 4 MW central electron densities reached 3  ×  1019 m−3, central electron temperatures reached values of 7 keV and ion temperatures reached just above 2 keV. Important physics studies during this first operational phase include a first assessment of power balance and energy confinement, ECRH power deposition experiments, 2nd harmonic O-mode ECRH using multi-pass absorption, and current drive experiments using electron cyclotron current drive. As in many plasma discharges the electron temperature exceeds the ion temperature significantly, these plasmas are governed by core electron root confinement showing a strong positive electric field in the plasma centre.

The optimized, superconducting stellarator Wendelstein 7-X went into operation and delivered first measurement data after 15 years of construction and one year commissioning. Errors in the magnet assembly were confirmend to be small. Plasma operation was started with 5 MW electron cyclotron resonance heating (ECRH) power and five inboard limiters. Core plasma values of T 8 e > keV, T 2 i > keV at line-integrated densities n 3 10 m 19 2 ≈ ⋅ − were achieved, exceeding the original expectations by about a factor of two. Indications for a coreelectron-root were found. The energy confinement times are in line with the international stellarator scaling, despite unfavourable wall conditions, i.e. large areas of metal surfaces and particle sources from the limiter close to the plasma volume. Well controlled shorter hydrogen discharges at higher power (4 MW ECRH power for 1 s) and longer discharges at lower power (0.7 MW ECRH power for 6 s) could be routinely established after proper wall conditioning. The fairly large set of diagnostic systems running in the end of the 10 weeks operation campaign provided first insights into expected and unexpected physics of optimized stellarators.

W7-AS has recently been equipped with ten open divertor modules in order to experimentally evaluate the island divertor concept. First results are reported in this paper. The new divertors enable access to a new NBI-heated, very high density (up to ne = 3.5 × 10 20 m −3 ) operating regime with promising confinement properties. The energy confinement time increases steeply with density and then saturates. In contrast, the particle and impurity confinement times decrease with increasing density. This allows full density control and quasi-steady-state operation also under conditions of partial detachment from the divertor targets. Radiated power fractions are low to moderate in attached regimes and reach up to about 90% in detachment scenarios. The radiation always stays peaked at the edge. The extremely high densities necessitated the development of non-standard heating techniques for central heating. For the first time efficient heating of an NBI target plasma by electron Bernstein waves (140 GHz, second harmonic) is achieved. In addition, this heating scenario enables fine tuning of the upstream boundary conditions for divertor operation.

A promising new plasma operational regime on the Wendelstein stellarator W7-AS has been discovered. It is extant above a threshold density and characterized by flat density profiles, high energy and low impurity confinement times, and edge-localized radiation. Impurity accumulation is avoided. Quasistationary discharges with line-averaged densities n(e) to 4 x 10(20) m(-3), radiation levels to 90%, and partial plasma detachment at the divertor target plates can be simultaneously realized. Energy confinement is up to twice that of a standard scaling. At B(t) = 0.9 T, an average beta value of 3.1% is achieved. The high n(e) values allow demonstration of electron Bernstein wave heating using linear mode conversion.

The electron energy balance is analyzed for equivalent low-density electron cyclotron resonance heated (ECRH) discharges with highly peaked central power deposition in the stellarators W7-A [Plasma Phys. Controlled Fusion 28, 43 (1986)], L-2 [Proceedings of the 6th International Conference on Plasma Physics and Controlled Nuclear Fusion Research, Berchtesgaden, 1976 (International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1977), Vol. 2, p. 115] and W7-AS [Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Plasma Physics and Controlled Nuclear Fusion Research, Baltimore, 1982 (International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 1983), Vol. 3, p. 141]. Within the long mean-free path (LMFP) collisionality regime in stellarators, the neoclassical electron heat diffusivity χe can overcome the ‘‘anomalous’’ one. The neoclassical transport coefficients are calculated by the dkes code (Drift Kinetic Equation Solver) [Phys. Fluids 29, 2951 (1986); Phys. Fluids B 1, 563 (1989)] for these configurations, and the particle and energy fluxes are estimated based on measured density and temperature profiles. Neoclassical transport in the LMFP regime is minimum in W7-A and maximum in L-2, the standard configurations in W7-AS are in between. The radial electric field is estimated from the ambipolarity condition of only neoclassical particle fluxes. For these types of discharges in the quite different stellarator configurations, only the ‘‘electron root’’ exists in the innermost region, and, at the outer radii, only the ‘‘ion root.’’ In the region where both roots are found, a rather narrow shear layer in the poloidal plasma rotation is expected. Especially for W7-AS, a significant improvement of the neoclassical confinement is predicted in the ‘‘electron root’’ region. On the ‘‘ion root’’ side of the predicted ‘‘shear layer,’’ both the neoclassical energy and particle fluxes agree quite well with the experimental findings. At outer radii, the neoclassical fluxes are much lower. The predicted improvement for the ‘‘electron root’’ region is not found experimentally.