Never-before-seen topological solitons experimentally realized in liquid crystals

(Phys.org)--Physicists have discovered that dozens of 3-D knotted structures called "topological solitons," which have remained experimentally elusive for hundreds of years, can be created and frozen for long periods of time in liquid crystals like those used in electronic displays. Until now, topological solitons have been realized only in a few experiments, and for such a short time that it has been impossible to study them in any detail.