An hierarchical classification of kink species in dislocation cores was proposed which considered 3 sources of broken symmetry. These were: the host lattice structure, the nature of the dislocation, and core reconstruction effects. Kink multiplicity in body-centered cubic and diamond-cubic lattices was considered, and was verified directly by atomistic calculations which were performed using interatomic potentials for Mo and Si. It was concluded that much of the complexity of dislocation kink mechanisms could be rationalized in terms of the identified underlying causes of symmetry-breaking.

Kink Asymmetry and Multiplicity in Dislocation Cores V.V.Bulatov, J.F.Justo, W.Cai, S.Yip: Physical Review Letters, 1997, 79[25], 5042-5