A research program to obtain a more detailed understanding of charge-density-wave (CDW) phenomena and to exploit the long- recognized potential of CDW systems as models for nonlinear many degrees-of-freedom dynamics is proposed. The projects to be investigated include: CDW phase slip at electrical contacts, including the effects of strains required for phase slip; the effects of impurities on vortex nucleation and growth; the dynamics of CDW shear; the exploration of the analogies with other stick- slip processes; the thermal CDW depinning and analogies with thermally-assisted flux flow; the direct imaging of CDW structure and motion by transmission electron microscopy (TEM); and the finite-size effects in CDW dynamics.
