Orientational structures in cholesteric droplets with homeotropic surface anchoring

Dependency of orientational structures in the cholesteric droplets with homeotropic surface anchoring on the helicity parameter has been studied by experiment and simulations. We have observed a sequence of the structures, in which the director configurations and topological defects were identified by comparison of polarizing microscope pictures with the simulated textures. Toron-like structure and its low-symmetry deformed variant have been revealed and studied in detail. The ranges of stability of the observed structures have been summarized in the general diagram and explained by the helicity parameter dependencies of the free energy terms.