Main results of the first experimental campaign in the stellarator W7-X

A summary of the first operational phase (OP1.1) at the stellarator W7-X is given. The operational setup of heating and diagnostics as well the results of experiments are briefly described. Plasma parameters and confinement are better than expected: Te > 8 keV and Ti > 2 keV at ne ≈ 3×1019 m-3 yielding β0 ≈ 2.5 %. The results for ECR heating with X2-mode as well the ECCD are in good agreement with the theory predictions. The heating scenario with the O2-mode alone was successfully first time performed. Stellarator specific regime of core “electron root” confinement was obtained

Magnetic configuration effects on the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator

The two leading concepts for confining high-temperature fusion plasmas are the tokamak and the stellarator. Tokamaks are rotationally symmetric and use a large plasma current to achieve confinement, whereas stellarators are non-axisymmetric and employ three-dimensionally shaped magnetic field coils to twist the field and confine the plasma. As a result, the magnetic field of a stellarator needs to be carefully designed to minimize the collisional transport arising from poorly confined particle orbits, which would otherwise cause excessive power losses at high plasma temperatures. In addition, this type of transport leads to the appearance of a net toroidal plasma current, the so-called bootstrap current. Here, we analyse results from the first experimental campaign of the Wendelstein 7-X stellarator, showing that its magnetic-field design allows good control of bootstrap currents and collisional transport. The energy confinement time is among the best ever achieved in stellarators, both in absolute figures (τE > 100 ms) and relative to the stellarator confinement scaling. The bootstrap current responds as predicted to changes in the magnetic mirror ratio. These initial experiments confirm several theoretically predicted properties of Wendelstein 7-X plasmas, and already indicate consistency with optimization measures

No Laughing Matter: Fraud, the Fabliau and Chaucer’s Franklin’s Tale

In terms of its genre, the Franklin’s Tale is one of Chaucer’s most puzzling texts. It not only presents an Italian novella as a Breton lay, but splices further material from chronicles, saints’ lives and classical and patristic literature into its overall form. This paper aims to deepen the Tale’s complexity by noting the presence of a further, unremarked genre in the text, that of the fabliau. In particular, it pays close attention to the figure of the magician, arguing that this character and his tacitly rationalised sorcery are designed to evoke the rascally clercs escoliers of the French texts, whose trickery often has comparable methods and results. The wider implications of these allusions for interpreting the poem are also considered