Assessment of the plasma start-up in Wendelstein 7-X with neutral beam injection

Plasma start-up by neutral beam injection was investigated for stellarators. A zero-dimensional collisional model was extended to evaluate the temporal evolution of the plasma start-up in a confining toroidal magnetic field. Inclusion of different beam energy components indicated a substantial effect due to the energy dependence of beam-gas collisions. Additional collision processes and particle equations were considered to simulate the plasma start-up in helium-hydrogen mixtures. The isotope effect between operation with hydrogen and deuterium beams was also investigated. As a major objective the conditions necessary for a plasma start-up with neutral beams in W7-X have been examined. The assessed beam configuration in W7-X was found not to allow plasma start-up by neutral beam injection alone. The model has been validated for experimental data from W7-AS and Large Helical Device. Quantitative predictions of this study show that the ratio of the beam-plasma interaction length and the plasma volume is an essential quantity for the successful plasma start-up with neutral beams.