Steps and dislocations in cubic lyotropic crystals.

It has been shown recently that lyotropic systems are convenient for studies of faceting, growth or anisotropic surface melting of crystals. All these phenomena imply the active contribution of surface steps and bulk dislocations. We show here that steps can be observed in situ and in real time by means of a new method combining hygroscopy with phase contrast. First results raise interesting issues about the consequences of bicontinuous topology on the structure and dynamical behaviour of steps and dislocations.