Stellarator

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Experimental arrangement for controlled nuclear fusion. In a stellarator, the screw-like twisting of field lines around the torus centre is generated by external coils. In contrast to the Tokamak, a stellarator does not need a direct-axis flow component in the plasma. The stellarator can therefore function statically in principle. In a stellarator, the magnetic field cage is formed by a single coil system. The abandonment of the annular plasma flow signifies, however, the abandonment of the axial symmetry existing in Tokamaks; plasma and magnetic coils have a more complicated shape. For a fusion power plant, the stellarators could provide a technically simpler solution than Tokamaks. This issue cannot be answered theoretically; it must be decided by experiments which is the aim of the WENDELSTEIN experiments of the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics.

Principle of the stellarator

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