ELASTIC WAVES IN TRIGONAL CRYSTALS

In non-isotropic single crystals the normals to the wavefronts of elastic waves are not colinear with the vectors representing either the energy flow or the particle displacement. Calculations have been carried out on the propagation characteristics of sound waves in two particular trigonal crystals, α-quartz and sapphire.The development of the eigenvalue equation for the velocity and the formulae for the components of the displacement and energy-flow vectors are summarized. The assumption that the wave has a plane wavefront normal to a given direction leads to three solutions, one representing a quasi-longitudinal wave and the other two representing quasi-transverse waves. The velocities of propagation, directions of displacement, and directions of energy flow for the three waves have been calculated for many orientations of the wave normal. Detailed results for propagation near one of the pure-mode axes are presented.