Magneto-optic effects in ferrofluids

Abstract

Measurements of the magnetically induced birefringence, linear dichroism, Faraday rotation, Faraday ellipticity and circular dichroism in a cobalt and a magnetite ferrofluid are reported. These results are interpreted in terms of the permittivity tensors of the materials concerned and the elements of these tensors are evaluated. In the case of the cobalt fluid the derived values of the elements of the permittivity tensor are compared with the values that have been derived from measurements on thin films of cobalt by other workers and the agreement is considered reasonable.