pinch effect

pinch effect, self-constriction of a cylinder of an electrically conducting plasma. When an electric current is passed through a gaseous plasma, a magnetic field is set up that tends to force the current-carrying particles together. This force can compress the plasma so that it is heated as well as confined, but such a self-pinched plasma cylinder is unstable and will quickly develop kinks or break up into a series of lumps resembling a string of sausages. The pinch effect, therefore, must be augmented with other magnetic-field configurations to produce a stable magnetic bottle.