FINITE TWIST WAVES IN LIQUID CRYSTALS

Employing the continuum theory of liquid crystals proposed by 'Leslie- (1), we present an analysis on the speed and the amplitude of acceleration and higher-order twist waves propagating in liquid crystals. Such waves were first discussed by. Fergaaon and Brown (2), and Ericksen (3). We obtain explicit expressions for the time dependence of the speeds and amplitudes of such waves. 1. Introduction, T W I S T waves were first discussed by Fergason and Brown (2), and in-dependently, by Ericksen (3). Briefly, these waves induce little or no macroscopic fluid motion in liquid crystals. As remarked by Ericksen, such waves might be employed to predict certain constitutive quantities o