Piecewise omnigenous magnetohydrodynamic equilibria as fusion reactor candidates

Abstract

In piecewise omnigenous magnetic fields, charged particles remain perfectly confined in the abscence of collisions and turbulence. This concept extends the traditional notion of omnigenity, the theoretical principle upon which most of existing magnetic fusion reactor designs, including tokamaks, are based. While piecewise omnigenity broadens the range of potentially viable stellarator reactor candidates, it is achieved by relaxing the requirement of continuity in the magnetic field strength, which could appear to pose significant challenges for the design of magnetohydrodynamic equilibria. In this work, a stellarator magnetic configuration is presented that satisfies the ideal magnetohydrodynamic equilibrium equation and that achieves unprecedented levels of piecewise omnigenity. As a result, it exhibits favorable transport characteristics, including reduced bulk radial (neoclassical and turbulent transport), bootstrap current and fast ion losses. In addition, the configuration displays robust MHD stability across a range of \b{eta} values and possesses a rotational transform profile compatible with an island divertor. Collectively, these features satisfy the standard set of physics criteria required for a viable reactor candidate which, until now, were believed to be attainable only by certain types of omnigenous stellarators.