Step-bunching Instability of Growing Interfaces between Ice and Supercooled Water

Abstract

We review our recent study on step-bunching instability (SBI) of ice melt growth, one of the interfacial instabilities driven by self-organization of elementary step flow associated with crystal growth dynamics. With the aid of an advanced optical microscope and its combination with a two-beam interferometer, we realized quantitative in situ observations of the spatiotemporal dynamics of the SBI. This enables us to examine the origin of the SBI at the level of the step–step interaction. Our finding offers a significant clue to understanding the general mechanism of melt growth beyond ice-crystal growth, inseparably involving several broad research fields, including cryobiological, geophysical, and material branches.