  Topological solitons, such as skyrmions, arise in field theories of systems
ranging from Bose-Einstein condensates to optics, particle physics, and
cosmology, but they are rarely accessible experimentally. Chiral nematic liquid
crystals provide a platform to study skyrmions because of their natural
tendency to form twisted structures arising from the lack of mirror symmetry at
the molecular level. However, large-scale dynamic control and technological
utility of skyrmions remain limited. Combining experiments and numerical
modeling of chiral liquid crystals with optically controlled helical pitch, we
demonstrate that low-intensity, unstructured light can control stability,
dimensions, interactions, spatial patterning, self-assembly, and dynamics of
these topological solitons.
