The author studies the growth rate and boundary of a drift-dissipative instability in a plasma in which the value of the parameter 3 is finite (β = 8πp0/B02, p0 being the pressure of the plasma and B0 the magnetic field inside it). It is shown that the growth rate becomes small compared to the frequency at β > νe/ωBe, where νe is the electron-ion collision frequency, and ωBe is the electron cyclotron frequency. The development of this instability proves impossible at β > max[(me/mi) νe/ω*, ρi/a], where me and mi are the masses of the electron and ion, ω*-is the drift frequency, ρi is the ion Larmor radius, and a is a dimension characterizing the inhomogeneity of the plasma. This is in agreement with the results of experiments conducted by Bodin and Newton on the diffusion of a plasma in a linear theta pinch.
Plasma-wave propagation across a magnetic field