Mathematical frontiers in optical solitons

Solitons are localized concentrations of field energy, resulting from a balance of dispersive and nonlinear effects. They are ubiquitous in the natural sciences. In recent years optical solitons have arisen in new and exciting contexts that differ in many ways from the original context of coherent propagation in a uniform medium. We review recent developments in incoherent spatial solitons and in gap solitons in periodic structures.