Abstract
Ultrasonic measurements have been made in an oriented smectic liquid crystal. The material was aligned by cooling through the liquid crystal-isotropic liquid transformation in the presence of a 12.4-kOe magnetic field. The ultrasonic attenuation is significantly more anisotropic than it is in nematics. The velocity also has a measurable anisotropy (∼ 5%). The velocities give certain of the elastic constants in de Gennes's theory of the smectic state.

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