Special features of the electric components of acoustic waves in the vicinity of nonpiezoactive directions in crystals

Abstract

The conditions of existence of the zero components of electric field E and electric induction D accompanying a volume acoustic wave propagating in a piezoelectric medium have been studied. General equations describing the positions of the zero-field lines E(m) = 0 and the zero-induction points m ₀, such that D(m ₀) = 0 on the unit sphere (m ² = 1) of the wave propagation directions, are obtained. General theorems determining the conditions ensuring the existence of such lines and points, even in triclinic crystals, are formulated. The relationship between such directions and various elements of the crystal symmetry is analyzed. The vector fields D(m), which are always orthogonal to the wave normals m, in the vicinity of the zero-induction points m ₀ exhibit certain orientational singularities characterized by the Poincaré indices n = 0, ±1, ±2. The general analytical expressions are obtained for the n values in crystals with arbitrary anisotropy and specified for a number of crystals belonging to various symmetry classes. The conditions of stability of the orientational singularities with respect to small perturbations of the material moduli and a change in the crystal symmetry are considered.