Controlled Fusion and Plasma Physics

This new book by Kenro Miyamoto provides an up-to-date overview of the status of fusion research and the important parts of the underlying plasma physics at a moment where, due to the start of ITER construction, an important step in fusion research has been made and many new research workers will enter the field. For them, and also for interested graduate students and physicists in other fields, the book provides a good introduction into fusion physics as, on the whole, the presentation of the material is quite appropriate for getting acquainted with the field on the basis of just general knowledge in physics. There is overlap with Miyamoto's earlier book Plasma Physics for Nuclear Fusion (MIT Press, Cambridge, USA, 1989) but only in a few sections on subjects which have not evolved since. The presentation is subdivided into two parts of about equal length. The first part, following a concise survey of the physics basis of thermonuclear fusion and of plasmas in general, covers the various magnetic configurations studied for plasma confinement (tokamak; reversed field pinch; stellarator; mirror-type geometries) and introduces the specific properties of plasmas in these devices. Plasma confinement in tokamaks is treated in particular detail, in compliance with the importance of this field in fusion research. This includes a review of the ITER concept and of the rationale for the choice of ITER's parameters. In the second part, selected topics in fusion plasma physics (macroscopic instabilities; propagation of waves; kinetic effects such as energy transfer between waves and particles including microscopic instabilities as well as plasma heating and current drive; transport phenomena induced by turbulence) are presented systematically. While the emphasis is on displaying the essential physics, deeper theoretical analysis is also provided here. Every chapter is complemented by a few related problems, but only partial hints for their solution are given. A selection of references, mostly to articles covering original research, allows the interested reader to go deeper into the various subjects. There are a few quite relevant areas which are essentially not covered in the book (plasma diagnostics; fuelling). The discussion of particle and power exhaust is limited to tokamaks and is somewhat scarce. Other points which I did not find fully satisfactory are: the index is too selective and does not really allow easy access to any specific subject. Cross references between different sections treating related topics are not always given. There are quite a lot of typographical errors which as far as cross references are concerned may be disturbing. A list of the symbols used would be a helpful supplement, especially since some of them appear with different meanings. There are apparent imperfections in the structure of certain chapters. While the English is sometimes unusual, this generally does not affect the readability. Overall, the book can be warmly recommended to all interested in familiarizing themselves with the physics of magnetic fusion.