Soft Matter Macro and Micro-Photonics workshop

Topological shaping of light in spatial, spectral and temporal domains from self-organized liquid crystal textures

Etienne Brasselet
CNRS, Laboratoire Ondes et Matière d’Aquitaine, University of Bordeaux, 33400 Talence, France
etienne.brasselet@u-bordeaux.fr

Liquid crystals have long underpinned key optical technologies, most notably in display applications, where their orientational order is harnessed in highly optimized, function-specific devices. Beyond this conventional paradigm, liquid crystals possess a defining feature: their ability to host a rich variety of topological structures, both singular and non-singular, and their remarkable sensitivity to broken symmetries across multiple length scales, making them particularly suited for compact, miniaturized photonic architectures.

What began as observations of light scattering from topological defects has evolved into a framework where liquid crystal textures harness the topology of optical fields in a deterministic and reconfigurable manner. In this talk, I will show how self-organized and structured liquid crystal media can enable agile topological shaping of light across spatial, spectral, and temporal domains. By exploiting spin-orbit interactions and dispersive anisotropy, these systems provide compact platforms for generating and dynamically controlling complex light fields, including skyrmionic and spatiotemporal structures.

These advances make liquid crystals a versatile platform for topological photonics, moving beyond the era of simply taming them for specific purposes, and pointing to a future where their topological richness and self-organizing capabilities are fully unleashed.