In CdS crystals oriented with the electric drift field parallel to the c axis, acoustoelectric domains consist of off-axis shear waves. This is because there is no acoustoelectric gain for shear waves traveling along the hexagonal axis, while the gain may be large in an off-axis direction. The particular angle at which the gain is a maximum depends on the angular dependence of the electromechanical coupling coefficient and the component of the electron drift velocity along that angle. These factors combine to make the angle of maximum gain a function of drift velocity along the c axis. Using a stroboscopic strain-birefringent method, we observed the off-axis domains directly. The domain tilt angle has been found to depend on drift velocity in roughly the same way as predicted from the small-signal angular dependence theory. Discrepancies may be the result of large-signal effects or of angular dispersion.
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