Magnetic field induced birefringence in magnetic fluid

The magnetic fluid comprises of single domain magnetite nanoparticles, suspended in water and stabilized using dodecanoic acid has been studied here. The optical properties of two different magnetic volume fractions, i.e. 8.2×10−4, and 4.92×10−3 and coded as FN30 and F30 respectively have been selected for the present study. Interestingly, it is observed that the magnetic fluid having low magnetic volume fraction, i.e. FN30, exhibits high change in magnetic field induced birefringence, which is differing from the magnetization data, which indicates that the mean magnetic moment of F30 is higher. The magnetic field induced birefringence establishes tunability, and has potential to develop as next generation optical devices.