We report the observations of a plasma jet evolving through a macro-to micro-scale
progression sequence. This leads to a fast magnetic reconnection that results in the jet
breaking off from its originating electrode and forming a force-free state. A sausage-like
pinching occurs first and squeezes an initially fat, short magnetized jet so that it becomes
thin. The thin jet then becomes kink unstable. The lengthening of the jet by the kinking thins
the jet even more since the kink is an incompressible instability. When the jet radius …