Fig. 6
Spherical multipole moments of composite gourd-like colloids. Values of \(q_{l1}^x\) (l = 1–6) were calculated at the particles geometrical center for all simulated composite gourd-like colloids with various conic anchoring angles at the lower lobe. Strong dipole emerges for particles near rb = 4/5, db = −2/5, quadrupole is most pronounced for a spherical particle with homeotropic or nearly tangential boundary condition. Octupole is larger for composites with large upper spheres and conic anchoring, whereas the strong hexadecapole emerges for spherical particles with conic anchoring on the surfaces. 32- and 64-pole are generally weak compared to the others because the neck defect region only slightly perturb n(r). Note that the multipole moments are calculated only in discrete points and interpolated for better visibility. Circles point to multipole moments of configurations with parameters close to experimentally realized: red circle corresponds to a dipole in Fig. 4d, h , blue circle corresponds to the colloid with an octupolar configuration in Fig. 4a and green circle corresponds to a 64-pole in Fig. 3. Rhombs point to the diagram regions with dominant or “pure” multipole moments: blue and magenta rhombs show respectively quadrupoles with a Saturn ring and boojums; red and green rhombs point, respectively, to dominant octupole and hexadecapole
