Plasma confinement systems

Present plasma confinement systems are reviewed in order to provide an understanding of the developments necessary for demonstrating the scientific feasibility of controlled thermonuclear fusion. Significantly, these systems have several common features which appear certain to be used in more advanced experiments. These features include high field superconducting magnets, neutral beam injection, and vacuum techniques. Beyond the suppressing of plasma instabilities, improvements in these technologies will be required to achieve controlled fusion.