Present Status of Tandem Mirrors and Their Prospects

Recent tandem mirror operations are summarized. These include potential formation without sloshing ion beam injection, MHD stability, axial potential confinement, and radial transport. As a result of potential plugging, ion temperatures of 10 keV are achieved. Beta values up to 14 % are also observed, and thermonuclear fusion neutrons are detected. Suppression of drift waves due to ExB shear flows is identified as a key factor for the good radial confinement Work to be done in present-day devices and future prospects are discussed.