TIME EVOLUTION OF AN INCOMMENSURATE SUPERSTRUCTURE OF A CRYSTAL NEAR A STRUCTURAL PHASE-TRANSITION TO A HOMOGENEOUS PHASE

The time evolution of a soliton system in an incommensurate phase of a ferroelectric, which has undergone an abrupt transition to a nonequil ibrium state, has been determined experimentally. The anomalous permit tivity and the corresponding distance between solitons have a logarith mic time evolution. The law describing this evolution agrees qualitati vely with the interpretation that the relaxation of the inhomogeneous system is a thermally activated process governed by metastability effe cts.