We measured contrast detection thresholds for a small (3.6 x 3.6 arc min) square target in the presence and absence of spatially identical pedestal stimuli, and of a spatially non-overlapping inducing line (3.6 x 23 arc min). Results for the pedestal stimuli replicated the classical "dipper function", thresholds being reduced by near-threshold pedestals and increased at higher pedestal contrast...

Solitary perturbations (SPs) localized both poloidally and radially are detected within ~100 μs before the partial collapse of the high pressure gradient boundary region (called pedestal) of magnetized toroidal plasma in the KSTAR tokamak device. The SP develops with a low toroidal mode number (typically unity) in the pedestal ingrained with quasi-stable edge-localized mode (QSM) which commonly...

We used a dual-masking paradigm to study how contrast discrimination is influenced by the presence of adjacent stimuli differing in orientation. The task of the observer was to detect a vertical Gabor target superimposed on a vertical Gabor pedestal in the presence of flankers. The Gabor flankers had orientations ranging from 0 degrees (parallel to the target) to 90 degrees (orthogonal). The fl...

Neoclassical implications of the strong radial electric field, inherently present in an H-mode tokamak pedestal, are considered. The main ion poloidal flow in the pedestal is predicted to be reduced in magnitude, or even reversed, compared with its core counterpart. The resulting change in the neoclassical formula for the impurity flow is shown to result in improved agreement with boron measure...

In the mid-1990s, the Pokorny and Smith research group began a series of psychophysical experiments with the aim of separately measuring magnocellular (MC)- and parvocellular (PC)-pathway mediated achromatic contrast discrimination. Three paradigms provide complementary information: The pulsed-pedestal paradigm reveals PC contrast gain, the steady-pedestal paradigm reveals steady-state MC-pathw...

The EPED model has been designed to predict the pedestal height and width from a minimal set of parameters and using the stability of the pedestal region for global MHD peeling-ballooning (P-B) modes as well as local Kinetic Balooning Modes (KBMs). This approach has been validated for type-I ELMy H-modes and Quiescent H-modes (QH) but can also be used for other types of H-modes where it usually...

Previous pedestal turbulence measurements in the National Spherical Torus Experiment assessed the spatial and temporal properties of turbulence in the steep gradient region of H-mode pedestals during edge localized mode (ELM)-free, MHD-quiescent periods. Here, we extend the analysis to fluctuation amplitudes and compare observations to pedestal turbulence simulations. Measurements indicate norm...

The physics of the tokamak edge is very complicated, and the scaling of the H-mode transport barrier pedestal has significant uncertainties. Evidence from the largest tokamaks appears to support a model in which the H-mode pedestal width scales linearly with the poloidal gyroradius and the gradient scales with ideal MHD ballooning limits. However, there appears to be significant variability in ...