Kink & Sausage Instabilities
Ideal magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) macro-instabilities occurring in current-carrying pinched plasma columns.
Governing formula
m = 0 (Sausage Mode), m = 1 (Kink Mode)
SI unit
MHD Instability Modes
In depth
Sausage instability (m=0) compresses plasma columns at neck-downs due to stronger magnetic pressure B_θ ∝ 1/r. Kink instability (m=1) bends current paths, increasing magnetic field strength on the inside bend and bending the plasma column further outward.
Examples in the real world
Kink instability bending z-pinch plasma columns and disrupting tokamak plasma discharges.