The biennial International Congresses on Plasma Physics (ICPPs) are the most international of the full-spectrum plasma physics conferences, having no permanent tie to any one regional physical society, but rather making different regional links as they move around the world. The 2002 Congress, held in the southern Asia-Pacific region, incorporated the 6th Asia Pacific Plasma Theory Conference, the 24th Australian Institute for Nuclear Science and Engineering (AINSE) Plasma Science and Technology Conference, and the 6th Japan-Australia Plasma Theory and Computation Workshop.About 290 delegates met at the Manly Pacific Park Royal, Sydney, Australia between 15-19 July, 2002. In an age of specialization, ICPP 2002 was a general conference in plasma physics. A theme of the conference was the unity of plasma physics, covering all aspects, from low-temperature plasmas to fusion plasmas, from industrial applications to astrophysics, and all three approaches to investigating physical phenomena: experiment, observation and theory.The International Programme Committee, co-chaired by Robert Dewar of The Australian National University and Michael Tendler of the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, met in Sydney in February 2002 to select the programme of 49 invited Plenary and Review talks for the morning programme. These were selected from nominations submitted by the International Advisory Committee, the Local Organizing Committee, the Programme Committee itself, and self-nominations in abstracts submitted.This cluster of papers in Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion is the result of an invitation kindly extended by Institute of Physics Publishing to the Plenary and Review Speakers to submit papers based on their talks. The refereeing of these papers was administered by the editors of Plasma Physics and Controlled Fusion in accordance with their usual high standards.The Congress was underwritten by the Australian Institute of Physics, the Department of Theoretical Physics and the Plasma Research Laboratory at The Australian National University's Research School of Physical Sciences and Engineering, and by the Head of the School of Physics, University of Sydney. The organizers thank the main sponsors - the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) and the New South Wales Department of State and Regional Development.
Invited review and topical lectures from the 13th International Congress on Plasma Physics