  We demonstrate a method to create potential barriers with polarized light
beams for polaritons in semiconductor microcavities. The form of the barriers
is engineered via the real space shape of a focalised beam on the sample. Their
height can be determined by the visibility of the scattering waves generated in
a polariton fluid interacting with them. This technique opens up the way to the
creation of dynamical potentials and defects of any shape in semiconductor
microcavities.
