@article{article,
  author = {O. Grulke and G. Acton and J. Adamek and D. Aggelis and R. M. Alamo-Calderon and C. Albert and T.O.S.J. Bosman and M. de Beij and M. van Berkel and M. J. Pueschel and P. Aleynikov and K. Aleynikova and P. Mulholland and et al.},
  title = {Overview of Wendelstein 7-X high-performance operation},
  abstract = {The Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) stellarator has completed two consecutive experimental campaigns OP 2.2 (Sep.-Dec. 2024) and OP 2.3 (Feb.-May 2025) under a new operational strategy enabling more than one year of uninterrupted device availability. This approach, supported by exceptionally high subsystem reliability, allowed sustained high-efficiency plasma operations with up to 80{\textendash}100 discharges per day across a broad range of magnetic configurations. Several key technical upgrades-most notably the first operation of a 1.5 MW class steady-state gyrotron, a new steady-state pellet injector, and advanced real-time feedback control systems significantly enhanced heating, fueling, and plasma control capabilities. Together, these improvements enabled major advances in long-pulse performance, high-β operation, and confinement optimization. Long-pulse discharges achieved 1.8 GJ of injected energy under fully detached divertor conditions, while reduced-field scenarios facilitated record volume-averaged β values approaching 3\%. High-performance plasmas with centrally peaked density profiles, created via neutral beam injection (NBI) or sustained pellet fueling, demonstrated strongly reduced turbulent transport and stellarator-record fusion triple products. Complementary studies of power exhaust and divertor heat loads revealed the role of scrape-off-layer drift physics in shaping strike-line patterns under attached conditions. Together, the results from OP 2.2 and OP 2.3 significantly expand the operational space of W7-X and strengthen its role as a leading platform for steady-state stellarator research and reactor-relevant plasma scenarios.},
  year = {2026},
  journal = {Nuclear Fusion},
  volume = {66},
  pages = {116003},
  publisher = {IOP Publishing},
  doi = {10.1088/1741-4326/ae5f32},
  language = {eng},
}