A brief review of solitary waves in nonlinear metamaterials

The coupling between material nonlinearity and dispersion/dissipation may lead to the emergence of solitary waves, which are disturbances that can propagate far away with constant velocity and fixed profile. In this paper, we present a brief review of solitary waves, concentrating on their propagation in nonlinear metamaterials with different aspects. In particular, we revisit the propagation characteristics of solitary waves in granular crystals, flexible metamaterials, multistable metamaterials, and high-dimensional metamaterials. We end the review paper with our outlook, emphasizing several potential directions that wait to be further explored and deeply understood.