The nature of inverse velocity surfaces as well as energy surfaces for elastic wave propagation in the (111) plane have been studied for a number of cubic crystals. The sections of inverse velocity surfaces by the (111) plane exhibit six-fold symmetry in all cases. Cuspidal edges are exhibited with a six-fold symmetry by both the slow transverse and fast transverse shear modes in the (111) plane, unlike the case of the (100) and (110) planes for which only the slow transverse shear mode exhibits cuspidal edges. The slow transverse mode energy surface exhibits cuspidal edges along$$(\bar 1\bar 12)$$ direction or an equivalent symmetry direction. The inverse velocity surfaces of the A-15 compounds exhibit unusually large inflexions for the slow transverse mode, whereas their energy surfaces have large cuspidal edges which intersect each other resulting in common regions of cusps.

Solitons are generated in an anharmonic linear lattice in which neighbouring atoms interact through a Morse potential by giving either a strong initial impulse or a large displacement to an end atom. Studies on the variation of the characteristic properties of the soliton with the strength of the initial pulse show that the velocity and the amplitude of the soliton increase with the strength of the initial impulse, but below a certain critical value for the initial impulse, only an oscillatory tail is generated. It is shown that when a defect is present in the lattice, a localised mode appears at the site of the defect and additional solitons travelling forward or even backwards, are generated. When two solitons collide at a defect region, they reemerge but leave a localised mode at the site of the defect. If an initial velocity is imparted to a particular particle, synchronously with the crossing of the particle by the soliton, a localised mode emerges at the site of the particle and additional solitons are also generated. When a soliton moves from a denser to a rarer medium, a strong localised pulse is created near the region of the density discontinuity and additional solitons appear; and further a weak oscillatory tail is left behind in the denser medium. On the other hand, if a soliton moves from a rarer to a denser medium, it is reflected back and a small localised mode is generated at the site of the density discontinuity. The variation of amplitude of the soliton with the velocity of propagation is also studied.

Solitons are simulated in an anharmonic linear lattice that is susceptible to a soft mode instability. The soft mode characteristic is introduced in the system by the addition of a term (−Au_n²) in the potential between the neighbouring atoms and the evolution of the system is studied as the soft mode parameterA varies from zero to the square of the limiting optical frequency. It is shown that the displacement pattern of the system shows three regions. First there is a region in which the relative displacements of the atoms show large amplitude oscillations. This is followed successively by a domain in which the relative displacements of the atoms are negligible and then by the soliton itself. In the soft mode region, the displacements of the atoms preceding the soliton decrease drastically in a linear fashion first, parabolically next and later become steady. It further exhibits a kind of devil’s stair cases.