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Abstract
The process of domain pattern coarsening in a nearly one-dimensional kink system in ferroelectric sodium nitrite, NaNO2, has been studied by means of an etching technique. Starting from a domain pattern of which the average domain width is 0.6 μm, the pattern coarsens initially through nucleation and growth of antistripples. The antistripples are elongated remarkably along the ferroelectric b-axis like a dagger, thus reducing the depolarization energy. Frequently the antistripples have a complicated shape in the bcplane with many thorns projecting toward the b-surface. Nucleation of antistripples does no more occur between walls separated by more than 2 μm. In the late stage the pattern coarsens through the backward motion of the fronts of wedge-shaped domains which were produced through combined growth processes of antistripples. The pattern retains its nearly one-dimensional character until the average domain width exceeds 30 μm.