Optimized quasisymmetric stellarators are consistent with the Garren-Boozer construction

Abstract

Most quasisymmetric stellarators to date have been designed by numerically optimizing the plasma boundary shape to minimize symmetry-breaking Fourier modes of the magnetic field strength $B$. At high aspect ratio, a faster approach is to directly construct the plasma shape from the equations of quasisymmetry near the magnetic axis derived by Garren and Boozer [Phys Fluids B 3, 2805 (1991)]. Here we show that the core shape and rotational transform of many optimization-based configurations can be accurately described by this direct-construction approach. This consistency supports use of the near-axis construction as an accurate analytical model for modern stellarator configurations.

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Near-Axis Expansion of Stellarator Equilibrium at Arbitrary Order in the Distance to the Axis
• Figures of merit for stellarators near the magnetic axis
• Vacuum magnetic fields with exact quasisymmetry near a flux surface. Part 1: Solutions near an axisymmetric surface