The fusion code xgc: Enabling kinetic study of multiscale edge turbulent transport in iter

Magnetic fusion experiments are essential for next-generation burning plasma experiments such as the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER).* The success of ITER is critically 530dependent on sustained high-confinement (H-mode) operation, which requires an edge pedestal of sufficient height for good core plasma confinement without producing deleterious large-scale, edge-localized instabilities. The plasma edge presents a set of multiphysics, multiscale problems involving a separatrix and complex three-dimensional (3-D) magnetic geometry. Perhaps the greatest computational challenge is the lack of scale separation; for example, temporal scales for drift waves, Alfvn waves, and edge localized mode (ELM) instability dynamics have a strong overlap. Similar overlap occurs in the spatial scales for the ion poloidal gyro-radius, drift wave, and plasma pedestal width. Microturbulence and …