 Ballooning instability

Ballooning instability is a phenomenon primarily observed in magnetically confined plasma, typically in the context of nuclear fusion research, specifically in tokamaks and stellarators. It refers to a type of instability that can arise in plasma due to pressure gradients and magnetic field topology. In a magnetic confinement system, plasma is held in place by magnetic fields, which are designed to keep the charged particles (ions and electrons) from escaping.