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Updated: Mar 11, 2026

Fabrication Procedures and Birefringence Measurements for Designing Magnetically Responsive Lanthanide Ion Chelating Phospholipid Assemblies
Published on: January 3, 2018
Using magnetic birefringence to determine the molecular arrangement of supramolecular nanostructures
Jeroen C Gielen1, Igor O Shklyarevskiy1, Albertus P H J Schenning2
1IMM, High Field Magnet Laboratory HFML, University of Nijmegen, Toernooiveld 7, 6525 ED NIJMEGEN, The Netherlands.
Abstract:
Supramolecular aggregates can be aligned in solution using a magnetic field. Because of the optical anisotropy of the molecular building blocks, the alignment results in an anisotropic refractive index of the solution parallel and perpendicular to the magnetic field. We present a model for calculating the magnetic birefringence, using solely the magnetic susceptibilities and optical polarizabilities of the molecules, for any molecular arrangement. We demonstrate that magnetic birefringence is a very sensitive tool for determining the molecular organization within supramolecular aggregates.
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