Nonlinear anisotropic equilibrium reconstruction in axisymmetric magnetic mirrors

Abstract

Magnetic equilibrium reconstruction is a crucial simulation capability for interpreting diagnostic measurements of experimental plasmas. Equilibrium reconstruction has mostly been applied to systems with isotropic pressure and relatively low plasma $\beta = 2\mu_0p/B^2$. This work extends nonlinear equilibrium reconstruction to high-$\beta$ plasmas with anisotropic pressure and applies it to the Wisconsin High Temperature Superconducting Axisymmetric Magnetic Mirror experiments to infer the presence of sloshing ions. A novel basis set for the plasma profiles and machine learning algorithm using scalable constrained Bayesian optimization allow accurate nonlinear reconstructions with uncertainty quantification to be made more quickly with fewer experimental diagnostics and improves the robustness of reconstructions at high $\beta$. In addition to WHAM and other mirrors, such reconstruction techniques are potentially attractive in high-performance devices with constrained diagnostic capabilities such as fusion power plants.