  Results of experiments on the dynamics and kinetic roughening of
one-dimensional slow-combustion fronts in three grades of paper are reported.
Extensive averaging of the data allows a detailed analysis of the spatial and
temporal development of the interface fluctuations. The asymptotic scaling
properties, on long length and time scales, are well described by the
Kardar-Parisi-Zhang (KPZ) equation with short-range, uncorrelated noise. To
obtain a more detailed picture of the strong-coupling fixed point,
characteristic of the KPZ universality class, universal amplitude ratios, and
the universal coupling constant are computed from the data and found to be in
good agreement with theory. Below the spatial and temporal scales at which a
cross-over takes place to the standard KPZ behavior, the fronts display higher
apparent exponents and apparent multiscaling. In this regime the interface
velocities are spatially and temporally correlated, and the distribution of the
magnitudes of the effective noise has a power-law tail. The relation of the
observed short-range behavior and the noise as determined from the local
velocity fluctuations is discussed.
