Kink propagation in inhomogeneous systems driven by spatiotemporal perturbations

We investigate the propagation of kinks in inhomogeneous media. We show that the extended character of the kink, the internal mode instabilities and the phenomenon of disappearance of the translational mode can affect the kink motion in the presence of space-dependent external perturbations. We apply the results to the analysis of kink ratchets and the propagation of kinks driven by wave fields.