Fig. 5.

(A) Free-energy profile for four particles as a function of θ and ϕ. Three particles are fixed in a stable equilateral triangle arrangement, and the other one is driven along the droplet surface. (B and C) Top view of particle arrangements at the droplet surface. The director field is illustrated with black lines, and color represents the z component of the director field. (B) Diamond arrangement of four particles with minimum free energy. (C) A metastable arrangement for four particles. (D) Field lines within the droplet for the metastable arrangement. Insets correspond to fluorescent micrographs of 5CB droplets in water emulsions with four PS particles.