Wet to dry self-transitions in dense emulsions: From order to disorder and back

Computer simulations show the self-transition between ordered and disordered emulsions in divergent microfluidic channels. The transition is driven by the nonlinear competition between viscous dissipation and surface tension forces as controlled by the device geometry. An unexpected route back to order is observed in the regime of large opening angles where a trend towards increasing disorder would be intuitively expected.