STAR_Lite: A stellarator designed to experimentally validate non-resonant divertors
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| Format: | Preprint |
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2026
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| _version_ | 1866912973668220928 |
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| author | Harrer, Georg Friedrich Giuliani, Andrew Padidar, Misha Davies, Robert Naik, Shibabrat Lowe, Calvin |
| author_facet | Harrer, Georg Friedrich Giuliani, Andrew Padidar, Misha Davies, Robert Naik, Shibabrat Lowe, Calvin |
| contents | The non-resonant divertor (NRD) offers a promising exhaust solution for stellarators, combining topological simplicity with resilience to magnetic field perturbations. To experimentally validate the robustness of non-resonant divertors in a quasi-axisymmetric (QA) configuration, we introduce STAR_Lite, a new stellarator experiment at Hampton University. This paper details the design and analysis of the first STAR_Lite coil configuration, STAR_Lite-A. The two field-period configuration manifests an NRD through X-points with zero rotational transform, at the top and bottom of the device. The divertor legs extruding from the X-points are topologically similar to the poloidal divertors of tokamaks. To expand the experimental range, STAR_Lite-A is optimized for experimental flexibility, producing a wide range of distinct QA configurations by only varying the currents in the modular coils. The NRDs not only persist across these configurations, but numerical strike-line simulations confirm that heat exhaust remains resilient to changes in coil currents, with plasma following the divertor legs and creating a toroidal, discontinuous, strike pattern. We further examine the resilience of the NRD to magnetic perturbations caused by manufacturing errors in the modular coils. We find that quasisymmetry and the existence of X-points is well-preserved under these magnetic field changes, but the rotational transform may vary substantially and displacements of the divertor X-points may lead to one X-point having a dominant effect on edge transport. Overall, our analysis indicates a compact, modular design can likely generate a resilient NRD structure while satisfying the practical constraints of a university-scale experiment. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2603_18265 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2026 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | STAR_Lite: A stellarator designed to experimentally validate non-resonant divertors Harrer, Georg Friedrich Giuliani, Andrew Padidar, Misha Davies, Robert Naik, Shibabrat Lowe, Calvin Plasma Physics The non-resonant divertor (NRD) offers a promising exhaust solution for stellarators, combining topological simplicity with resilience to magnetic field perturbations. To experimentally validate the robustness of non-resonant divertors in a quasi-axisymmetric (QA) configuration, we introduce STAR_Lite, a new stellarator experiment at Hampton University. This paper details the design and analysis of the first STAR_Lite coil configuration, STAR_Lite-A. The two field-period configuration manifests an NRD through X-points with zero rotational transform, at the top and bottom of the device. The divertor legs extruding from the X-points are topologically similar to the poloidal divertors of tokamaks. To expand the experimental range, STAR_Lite-A is optimized for experimental flexibility, producing a wide range of distinct QA configurations by only varying the currents in the modular coils. The NRDs not only persist across these configurations, but numerical strike-line simulations confirm that heat exhaust remains resilient to changes in coil currents, with plasma following the divertor legs and creating a toroidal, discontinuous, strike pattern. We further examine the resilience of the NRD to magnetic perturbations caused by manufacturing errors in the modular coils. We find that quasisymmetry and the existence of X-points is well-preserved under these magnetic field changes, but the rotational transform may vary substantially and displacements of the divertor X-points may lead to one X-point having a dominant effect on edge transport. Overall, our analysis indicates a compact, modular design can likely generate a resilient NRD structure while satisfying the practical constraints of a university-scale experiment. |
| title | STAR_Lite: A stellarator designed to experimentally validate non-resonant divertors |
| topic | Plasma Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2603.18265 |