2025/02/03 by Allen H. Boozer, Boozer, Allen H · 1 citation
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #Magnetic confinement fusion research #Particle accelerators and beam dynamics #Plasma Diagnostics and Applications #Plasma Physics (physics.plasm-ph)
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2502.00981
openalex publication_date 2025/02/03 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01
The confinement of plasmas in tokamaks and stellarators depends on magnetic field lines lying in nested toroidal surfaces. The transition near the plasma edge away from the lines lying in magnetic surfaces defines properties of divertors. The transition in time defines properties of disruptions. Divertor design and disruption analyses require a detailed understanding of these transitions. The use of a Fourier transform coupled with a Gaussian window function allows far more information to be extracted about these transitions using far shorter field line integrations than can be obtained using traditional methods based on Poincaré plots. The physics of divertors and disruptions is reviewed to clarify why the type of information that can be gained from more efficient methods of analysis is of central importance to the fusion program based on magnetic confinement.