Phase slippage, nonadiabatic effect, and dynamics of a source of traveling waves

Experimental studies of the source dynamics of counterpropagating waves in a convecting binary fluid are presented. The source motion is controlled by side heating. There exists a locking band inside which the source is pinned by the underlying roll structure. Outside this band the source commences to move abruptly by steps of half a wavelength. A distortion of the phase field and the resulting nonlinear flow are essential ingredients responsible for the abrupt transition to the sliding state. Strong similarity to switching charge density waves dynamics is discussed.