Le Viet anh DOAN

PhD student

Resarch activities at CPHT: Theory of Plasmas

Thesis: "Minimum size for a high field optimized stellarator."
Advisors: Timothée Nicolas and  Hinrich Lutjens

Research interests: 

Compact stellarator
Magnetic confinement
Fusion reactor design
Minimum-size scaling
Physics-engineering optimization

Abstract:

Among magnetic confinement devices, stellarators have emerged as a promising alternative to tokamaks. Unlike the latter, they offer the advantage of limiting the onset of magnetohydrodynamic instabilities, thereby improving the stability of the confined plasma. Their design, however, remains significantly more complex due to the three-dimensional geometry of the magnetic coils. High-temperature superconductors now offer new opportunities by enabling the construction of more compact stellarators operating at high magnetic fields. Nevertheless, increasing the magnetic field strength comes with heightened engineering constraints. The objective of this thesis is therefore to determine the minimum size that a stellarator can achieve, while accounting for both physical and technological constraints. More specifically, this work aims to formulate and solve an optimization problem whose goal is to minimize the size of the device while satisfying constraints related to plasma confinement, MHD stability, and engineering limitations. Solving this problem will make it possible to identify the fundamental trade-offs between physical performance and technological feasibility.