Zonal flow suppression of microturbulent transport in the optimized stellarators W7-X and QSTK

Abstract: We present a comparative study of turbulence transport in two optimized stellarator configurations: Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) and a recent design called Quasi-Symmetric Turbulence Konzept (QSTK). Using global gyrokinetic simulations with the Gyrokinetic Toroidal Code (GTC), we explore the role of zonal flows (ZFs) in suppressing electrostatic Ion Temperature Gradient (ITG) driven turbulence in both configurations. The simulations reveal that ZFs significantly reduce ion heat transport in both W7-X and QSTK, with a more pronounced impact on the latter configuration, as suggested by the apparently higher linear threshold ("critical") gradients for ITG modes. The study also highlights that, while both stellarators exhibit similar mode structures, the reduced ITG growth rates in QSTK contribute to the better performance regarding turbulence suppression, particularly at larger temperature gradients. The results support the notion that linear stability measures, in combination with nonlinear stabilization by zonal flows, can play an important role in the suppression of nonlinear heat fluxes.