The history of research into improved confinement regimes

Increasing the pressure by additional heating of magnetically confined plasmas had the consequence that turbulent processes became more violent and plasma confinement degraded. Since this experience from the early 1980ies, fusion research was dominated by the search for confinement regimes with improved properties. It was a gratifying experience that toroidally confined plasmas are able to self-organise in such a way that turbulence diminishes resulting in a confinement with good prospects to reach the objectives of fusion R&D. The understanding of improved confinement regimes revolutionized the understanding of turbulent transport in high-temperature plasmas. In this paper the story of research into improved confinement regimes will be narrated starting with 1980.