https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/08/200825165200.htm

The revised software lets researchers more easily determine the boundary of plasma in stellarators. When used in concert with two other codes, the code could help find a stellarator configuration that improves the performance of the design. The two complementary codes determine the optimal location for the plasma in a stellarator vacuum chamber to maximize the efficiency of the fusion reactions, and determine the shape that the external electromagnets must have to hold the plasma in the proper position.

The revised software, called the "free-boundary stepped-pressure equilibrium code (SPEC)," is one of a set of tools scientists can use to tweak the performance of plasma to more easily create fusion energy. "We want to optimize both the plasma position and the magnetic coils to balance the force that makes the plasma expand while holding it in place," said Stuart Hudson, physicist, deputy head of the Theory Department at PPPL and lead author of the paper reporting the results in Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion.