Molding Optical Waveguides with Nematicons

Optical waveguides are usually fabricated by top‐down methods. Hereby, this study demonstrates a bottom‐up approach based on nonlinear optics in reorientational nematic liquid crystals with polymerizable materials. Near‐infrared optical spatial solitons—nematicons—in conjunction with UV exposure are employed in order to achieve (i) real‐time signal waveguiding for point‐to‐point beam‐induced interconnects by effectively quenching the fluctuations of nematicon trajectories through polymer stabilization; (ii) the molding of permanent channel waveguides in a crosslinked polymer network, so that they persist after turning off the soliton beam and confine signals of various wavelengths and intensities. These findings introduce a novel, highly versatile platform and a wealth of possibilities for guided‐wave photonics, signal addressing, and processing in liquid crystalline soft matter.