Magnetooptical Effects of Magnetic Fluid

Magnetooptical effects of magnetic fluid thin film are experimentally investigated. Thin films made of magnetic fluid exhibit different transmissivities for the light differently polarized relative to the direction of the magnetic field H applied along the film surface. The phase difference θ induced by the magneto-birefringence increases with H . The function θ of H is reduced to a universal function f u ( x ) irrespective of the magnetic fluids' characteristics by scaling transformation. The initial behavior of θ is proportional to H . The same scaling transformation of the magnetization curve leads to fit f u ( x ). The temperature dependence of θ obeys the Curie-Weiss law 1/( T - T 0 ). The formation of linear chain-like cluster of a few colloidal particles explains experimental results of the dichroism and the birefringence fairly well.