An adjoint-based method for optimising MHD equilibria against the infinite-n, ideal ballooning mode

We demonstrate a fast adjoint-based method to optimise tokamak and stellarator equilibria against a pressure-driven instability known as the infinite-$n$ ideal ballooning mode. We present three finite-$\beta$ (the ratio of thermal to magnetic pressure) equilibria: one tokamak equilibrium and two stellarator equilibria that are unstable against the ballooning mode. Using the self-adjoint property of ideal magnetohydrodynamics, we construct a technique to rapidly calculate the change in the eigenvalue, a measure of ideal ballooning instability. Using the SIMSOPT optimisation framework, we then implement our fast adjoint gradient-based optimiser to minimise the eigenvalue and find stable equilibria for each of the three originally unstable equilibria.

Automated summary

In this study, we demonstrate a fast adjoint-based optimization technique to counter the pressure-driven infinite-$n$ ideal ballooning mode instability in tokamak and stellarator devices, and find stable equilibrium states.