Magnetic Curvature-Drift Instability

Phys. Rev. Lett. 53, 2308 (1984)https://ireap.umd.edu/10.1103/PhysRevLett.53.23081984Journal ArticlePlasma, Accelerator, and Nuclear Physics

A new fluid instability has been discovered which arises from the coupling of the drifttearing mode at the diamagnetic frequency with a mode with a velocity just below the curvature drift velocity. This mode, which can also be destabilized by cross-field transport, is unstable over a wide range of conditions and mode numbers for reversed-field pinches or spheromaks.