@article {aGrulke26,
	title = {Overview of Wendelstein 7-X high-performance operation},
	journal = {Nuclear Fusion},
	volume = {66},
	year = {2026},
	month = {05/2026},
	pages = {116003},
	abstract = {<p>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\&thinsp;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\&thinsp;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.</p>},
	keywords = {agnetic confinement, stellarator, Wendelstein 7-X},
	issn = {Online 1741-4326 / Print 0029-5515},
	doi = {10.1088/1741-4326/ae5f32},
	url = {https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1741-4326/ae5f32},
	author = {O. Grulke and Josep R Casas and et al}
}
