Polarized light transmission in ferrofluids loaded with carbon nanotubes in the presence of a uniform magnetic field

• Carbon nanotubes in ferrofluids favor the formation of chain-like structures.
• In the presence of a magnetic field ferrofluids loaded with CNT behaves as a polarizer.
• Transmitted light increases when samples are under a magnetic field then stabilizes.
• Attenuation time for transmitted light and agglomeration parameters were studied.

Magneto-optic phenomena in ferrofluids have been shown to be related to the formation of chain structures, due to the arrangement of the ferromagnetic particles, induced by an applied magnetic field. In this work, the effects on transmission of polarized light due to anisotropic effects induced by an external magnetic field in ferrofluids with carbon nanotubes are studied. The time response of the system presents two well defined stages, in the first one, which is very short, the fluid behaves as a polarizer. In contrast in the second stage, the effects of light transmission dominate. In this stage the transmitted light intensity grows with time and after a long time reaches a constant stable value. It is shown that these phenomena depend on the carbon nanotubes concentration as well as on the strength of the applied magnetic field. Using a simple model that considers a chain-like structure formation, it is possible to determine the rate of agglomeration of the formed structures and the attenuation coefficient of the transmitted light. The formation of nanostructures leads to variation in the transmitted light, depending on the polarization of the incident light. These magnetic nanostructures can find numerous applications in nanotechnology, optical devices and medicine.