Doubling Fusion Power with Volumetric Optimization in Magnetic Confinement Fusion Device*

Using a new technique, volumetric optimization, it is demonstrated that fusion power can be substantially increased by shifting the burning area to a larger volume with a minimal perturbation to the shape of the plasma boundary. This edge perturbation – squareness [1,2] -- is analogous to pinching and stretching the edge boundary. Analysis shows that this edge alteration is compatible with plasma instability. This novel method for varying the fusion power of a power plant holds significant potential for optimizing magnetic fusion devices such as tokamaks and stellarators.

[1] Leonard, A.W. et al, 2007. Pedestal performance dependence upon plasma shape in DIII-D. Nuclear fusion, 47(7), p.552.

[2] Parisi, J.F. et al, 2024. Geometric Burn Control for Tokamaks. arXiv preprint arXiv:2404.04387.