Published online by Cambridge University Press: 14 March 2011
Prismatic loops generated by cross-slip are organised in staircase-like strings such that the beginning of a loop corresponds in the screw orientation with the end of its neighbour. Strings constitute nucleation sites for dislocation tangles thus offering an explanation for spontaneous patterning in single glide. A loop string can be partially and even totally eliminated by a single impacting dislocation. In dense walls, loop refinement can also take place conservatively by mutual annihilation of loops of opposite signs.