ABSTRACT Magnetic reconnection, the process whereby magnetic field lines break and then reconnect to form a different topology, underlies critical dynamics of magnetically confined plasmas

in both nature1,2,3,4 and the laboratory5,6,7,8,9. Magnetic reconnection involves localized diffusion of the magnetic field across plasma, yet observed reconnection rates are typically much

higher than can be accounted for using classical electrical resistivity10. It is generally proposed10 that the field diffusion underlying fast reconnection results instead from some

combination of non-magnetohydrodynamic processes that become important on the ‘microscopic’ scale of the ion Larmor radius or the ion skin depth. A recent laboratory experiment11

sequence of repetitive tearing and thinning into two-dimensional magnetized plasma structures having successively finer scales. Here we report observations demonstrating a cascade of

instabilities from a distinct, macroscopic-scale magnetohydrodynamic instability to a distinct, microscopic-scale (ion skin depth) instability associated with fast magnetic reconnection.

These observations resolve the full three-dimensional dynamics and give insight into the frequently impulsive nature of reconnection in space and laboratory plasmas. Access through your

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BEING VIEWED BY OTHERS FIRST-PRINCIPLES THEORY OF THE RATE OF MAGNETIC RECONNECTION IN MAGNETOSPHERIC AND SOLAR PLASMAS Article Open access 28 April 2022 TOPOLOGY OF TURBULENCE WITHIN

COLLISIONLESS PLASMA RECONNECTION Article Open access 31 October 2023 AN ANALYTICAL MODEL OF “ELECTRON-ONLY” MAGNETIC RECONNECTION RATES Article Open access 01 April 2025 REFERENCES *

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This work supported by the US DOE, NSF and AFOSR. AUTHOR INFORMATION AUTHORS AND AFFILIATIONS * Applied Physics, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 91125,

California, USA Auna L. Moser & Paul M. Bellan Authors * Auna L. Moser View author publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar * Paul M. Bellan View author

publications You can also search for this author inPubMed Google Scholar CONTRIBUTIONS A.L.M. performed the experiments and analysed data. A.L.M. and P.M.B. discussed and interpreted the

results and wrote the manuscript. CORRESPONDING AUTHOR Correspondence to Auna L. Moser. ETHICS DECLARATIONS COMPETING INTERESTS The authors declare no competing financial interests.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION SUPPLEMENTARY FIGURES This file contains Supplementary Figures 1-5 with legends. They are fast camera images that show helical plasma geometry and plasma filament

breaking; EUV diode data and capacitively coupled probe data highlight the difference in reconnecting and non reconnecting plasmas; fast camera image shows hydrogen does not reach

miscrocale. (PDF 3175 kb) SUPPLEMENTARY MOVIE 1 This movie shows an overview of the experiment: the plasma jet grows and then undergoes first a kink instability and then a Rayleigh-Taylor

instability before reconnecting. (MOV 1143 kb) SUPPLEMENTARY MOVIE 2 This movie version of Figure 3 shows the kink instability and Rayleigh-Taylor instability in greater detail. (MOV 577 kb)

POWERPOINT SLIDES POWERPOINT SLIDE FOR FIG. 1 POWERPOINT SLIDE FOR FIG. 2 POWERPOINT SLIDE FOR FIG. 3 RIGHTS AND PERMISSIONS Reprints and permissions ABOUT THIS ARTICLE CITE THIS ARTICLE

Moser, A., Bellan, P. Magnetic reconnection from a multiscale instability cascade. _Nature_ 482, 379–381 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10827 Download citation * Received: 27 July

2011 * Accepted: 03 January 2012 * Published: 15 February 2012 * Issue Date: 16 February 2012 * DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature10827 SHARE THIS ARTICLE Anyone you share the following

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