Singular optical manipulation of birefringent elastic media using nonsingular beams.

It is shown that nonsingular light beams can generate singular birefringent patterns in homogeneous birefringent elastic media. These orientational defects of the optical-axis spatial distribution originate from an optical torque driven by a nonzero longitudinal field component. Singular radial and spin-dependent azimuthal light-induced elastic distortion patterns are described and experimentally observed in a uniform liquid-crystal film in the course of a focused circularly polarized Gaussian beam.