A novel magneto-optic ferrofluid material for sensor applications

The paper presents the synthesis and characterization of a novel ferrofluid magneto-optic material. A quantity of 100 ml was manufactured using the charge stabilized method, which proved to be very inexpensive (£ 0.15 per ml) and with very high Verdet constant of 122.43 × 103 rad T−1 m−1. As no linear birefringence was observed, this material is found to be particularly suitable for magneto-optic sensor applications where the presence of electric field is expected, such as detection of mains electrical current.