Inthenineyearssincethisbookwasfirstwritten,rapidprogresshasbeenmadescientificallyinnuclearfusion,spacephysics,andnonlinearplasmatheory.Atthesametime,theenergyshortageontheonehandandtheexplorationofJupiterandSaturnontheotherhaveincreasedthenationalawarenessoftheimportantapplicationsofplasmaphysicstoenergyproductionandtotheunderstandingofourspaceenvironment.
Inmagneticconfinementfusion,thisperiodhasseentheattainmentofaLawsonnumbernTEof2×1013cm-3secintheA!catortokamaksatMIT;neutral-beamheatingofthePLTtokamakatPrincetontoKTi=6.5keV;increaseofaverageto3%-5%intokamaksatOakRidgeandGeneralAtomic;andthestabilizationofmirror-confinedplasmasatLivermore,togetherwithinjectionofioncurrenttonearfield-reversalconditionsinthe2XIIBdevice.Inventionofthetandemmirrorhasgivenmagneticconfinementanewandexcitingdimension.Newideashaveemerged,suchasthecompacttorus,surface-fielddevices,andtheEBTmirror-torushybrid,andsomeoldideas,suchasthestellaratorandthereversed-fieldpinch,havebeenrevived.Radiofrequencyheat-inghasbecomeanewstarwithitspromiseofdccurrentdrive.Perhapsmostimportantly,greatprogresshasbeenmadeintheunderstandingoftheMHDbehavioroftoroidalplasmas:tearingmodes,magneticislands,anddisruptions.Concurrently,theproblemsofreactordesign,fusiontechnology,andfission-fusionhybridshavereceivedseriousattentionforthefirsttime.