Subnanowatt opto-molecular generation of localized defects in chiral liquid crystals

The controlled writing and deleting of topological states in soft matter systems is addressed. The reversible lightinduced topological structuring of chiral liquid crystals at the micrometer scale is reported. Various kinds of localized defect structures are generated at subnanowatt optical power levels, which is done by using chiroptical molecular switches that operate at the molecular scale