PPPL-3401 is available in pdf or postscript formats.

Visualization of Magnetically Confined Plasmas

J.L.V. Lewandowski

Date of PPPL Report: December 1999

Submitted to:Computing and Visualization in Science

With the rapid developments in experimental and theoretical fusion energy research towards more geometric details, visualization plays an increasingly important role. In this paper we will give an overview of how visualization can be used to compare and contrast some different configurations for future fusion reactors. Specifically we will focus on the stellarator and tokamak concepts. In order to gain understanding of the underlying fundamental differences and similarities these two competing concepts are compared and contrasted by visualizing some key attributes.