Time evolution of an incommensurate superstructure of a crystal near a structural phase transition to a homogeneous phase
Gladkii V. V. , Kirikov V. A. , Ivanova E. S.
The time evolution of a soliton system in an incommensurate phase of a ferroelectric, which has undergone an abrupt transition to a nonequilibrium state, has been determined experimentally. The anomalous permittivity and the corresponding distance between solitons have a logarithmic time evolution. The law describing this evolution agrees qualitatively with the interpretation that the relaxation of the inhomogeneous system is a thermally activated process governed by metastability effects.