SIMSOPT: A Flexible Framework for Stellarator Optimization

A stellarator is a magnetic field configuration used to confine plasma, and it is a candidate configuration for fusion energy, as well as a general charged particle trap. A stellarator’s magnetic field is typically produced using electromagnetic coils, and the shaping of the field and coils must be optimized to achieve good confinement. SIMSOPT is a collection of software components for carrying out these optimizations. These components include • Interfaces to physics codes, e.g. for magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) equilibrium. • Tools for defining objective functions and parameter spaces for optimization. • Geometric objects that are important for stellarators – surfaces and curves – with several available parameterizations. • Implementations of the Biot-Savart law and other magnetic fields, including derivatives. • Tools for parallelized finite-difference gradient calculations.