Nonlinear quasiparticles in hydrogen-bonded systems

We discuss some of the nonlinear aspects of hydrogen bonded inorganic, organic and biological materials. We show that the nature of the hydrogen bond leads to soliton-type excitations that play an important role in the transport properties. The well known ionic and orientational faults in ice and other hydrogen-bonded systems are associated with distinct topological excitations and the conduction properties of the networks are analyzed with the help of these nonlinear excitations. We present new results and more realistic models both for one and two component solitons. Consequences of relevance to condensed matter physics and bioenergetics are discussed.