Stability-optimized quasi-axisymmetric stellarator equilibria

This work details a stability analysis of quasi-axisymmetric (QA) stellarator equilibria that have been optimized for linear MHD stability. The equilibria have been optimized for stability by minimizing the linear growth rate calculated from the TERPSICHORE code. Various parameter scans have been performed to assess the robustness of stability and to characterize the fastest growing eigenmodes. Additionally, using the magnetic field from an optimized set of Thea Energy's planar coil stellarator design, we also present free boundary, nonlinear MHD evolution results using the M3D-C1 code.