Status of stellarator experiments-1981

During the last years growing interest in stellarators as toroidal magnetic confinement devices becomes evident. In spite of many restrictions, e.g., small minor radius a ˜0.1 m, plasma parameters comparable to those in tokamaks have been achieved. The deleterious effect of the plasma current on stability, equilibrium, and transport could be clarified. The progress of heating by the use of neutral injection and RF, allows to substitute ohmic heating. In the currentless phase significant improvement of the confinement at reasonable parameters has been observed. The substantial reduction of low-frequency and MHD fluctuations seems related to a decreased electron heat conduction.