A theory for the photoelastic behaviour of transparent polycrystalline aggregates consisting of randomly oriented anisotropic crystallites has been developed. Such an aggregate is isotropic but it becomes birefringent under the influence of a uniaxial load. The photoelastic constants of the aggregate are given by the components of the spatial average of the photoelastic tensor of the single crystal, and are worked out by assuming either the strain to be continuous (Voigt approximation) or the stress to be continuous (Reuss approximation). The components of the average photoelastic tensor are very different for these two limits. The elastic and the photoelastic constants of alkali halide aggregates have been evaluated for both the stress continuity and the strain continuity conditions. The maximum variation of the elastic constants in going from the Voigt to the Reuss condition is 50 per cent while the photoelastic birefringence can vary by as much as 300 per cent in alkali halides. In the case of KI and rubidium halides even the sign of the photoelastic birefringence is different for the two limits.

The effect of an axial magnetic field on the Poiseuille flow of nematicp-azoxyanisole (PAA) has been computed using the Ericksen-Leslie continuum theory. The apparent viscosity decreases appreciably in the presence of the magnetic field. Orientation and velocity profiles for different shear rates and magnetic fields are presented.

It is shown that the essential features of Helfrich’s permeation model for flow along the helical axis of a cholesteric liquid crystal can be derived approximately on the basis of the Ericksen-Leslie theory.

We consider the structure and properties of various topological defects that can occur in smectic C* liquid crystals. The polarization field associated with disclinations, the effect of incommensuration on the structure of dispirations, some interesting situations in the interaction between dispiration and disclination and between dispirations themselves have been discussed in detail. The properties of cholesteric type disclinations and a possible model for the core structure of a wedge disclination have also been dealt with.

Geometrical theory of diffraction (GTD) is an alternative model of diffraction propounded first by Thomas Young in 1802. GTD has a long history of nearly 150 years over which many eminent people enriched this model which has now become an accepted tool in the calculation of diffraction patterns. In the conventional Helmholtz-Kirchhoff theory the diffracted field is obtained by computing the net effect of the waves emitted by all points within the area of the aperture. But GTD reduces this problem to one of computing the net effect of waves from a few points on the boundary of the aperture or obstacle, thus simplifying considerably the labour involved in computations. Also the theory can easily be modified to include polarization effects. This has been done specifically by Keller (1962) who exploited the Sommerfeld solution of diffraction of electromagnetic waves at a half plane, making the theory more versatile than the Kirchhoff scalar wave theory. Interestingly the geometry of difffracted rays is predictable from a generalized Fermat principle. According to this the total path chosen by light from the source to the point of observation via the diffracting boundary is an extremum. Historically it should be stated that many of the salient features of GTD were established by a school led by Raman which was active from 1919–1945. Later when Keller (1962) revived GTD independently, he and others who followed him rediscovered many of the results of the Raman school. We have stressed wherever necessary the contributions of the Indian School. We have also discussed certain geometries where GTD can be effectively used. We get some new and interesting results, which can be easily understood on GTD, but are difficult to interpret on the conventional theory of diffraction.