Plasma confinement during the plasma
relaxation stage after switching off the ECRH
Pulse in the L-2M Stellarator
In studies of plasma confinement in L-2M during the
plasma relaxation stage, we observed the effects of
plasma self-organization in the dependence of the total
power loss from the plasma (Ploss) on the plasma energy
and the optimum plasma confinement available
using this facility. ………..……………. 1

New analysis sheds light on the role of 3D
stellarator fields and suppression of MHD
instability activity
In axisymmetric plasmas, the equilibrium field is a
source of free energy that unstable MHD modes can
tap to drive instability growth. A reasonable conjecture
for 3D plasmas would be that a similar role is played by
the stellarator equilibrium fields. New analysis of plasmas
with sawtooth oscillations on the Compact
Toroidal Hybrid (CTH) device using the NIMROD code
indicate that this reasonable conjecture is in fact false.
Instead, the stellarator fields (n = 5, 10, 15, …) surprisingly
dampen the growth of the dominant MHD modes.
……………………………………………………….…..…4

Experimental observation of the effects of
drifts on scrape-off layer flows and transport
in W7-X
The effects of drifts in the scrape-off layer (SOL) can
be studied by reversing the magnetic field in W7-X.
Large changes in the structure of the plasma flows and
asymmetries in divertor target density were observed in
the experiments indicating the importance of drifts for
W7-X SOL transport. …………………………………… 5

First announcement: 23rd Coordinated
Working Group Meeting to be held June 5 – 8,
2023
The meeting will be held live in Kyoto, Japan. …….. 6