Measurements and calculations are presented of reconnection and tearing of magnetic fields in a theta pinch operated with initial bias and driving fields in opposite directions. Open magnetic field lines reconnect and form magnetic islands on time scales of the order of an Alfvén transit time across the plasma sheath. Implications of these results for plasma confinement are discussed.

• Received 14 August 1978

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.42.228