Birefringence of silica hydrogels prepared under high magnetic fields   reinvestigated
  Birefringence is an indicator of structural anisotropy of materials. We measured the birefringence of Pb(II)-doped silica hydrogels prepared under a high magnetic field of various strengths. Because the silica is diamagnetic, one does not expect the structural anisotropy induced by a magnetic field. In previous work [Mori A, Kaito T, Furukawa H 2008 Mater. Lett. 62 3459-3461], we prepared samples in cylindrical cells made of borosilicate glass and obtained a preliminary result indicating a negative birefringence for samples prepared at 5T with the direction of the magnetic field being the optic axis. We have measured the birefringence of Pn(II)-doped silica hydrogels prepared in square cross-sectional cells made of quartz and reverted the previous conclusion. Interestingly, the magnetic-influenced silica hydrogels measured have been classified into four classes: two positive birefringent ones, no birefringent one, and negative birefringent one. Proportionality between birefringence and the strength of magnetic field is seen for the former two. 
Atsushi Mori, Takamasa Kaito, Hidemitsu Furukawa, Masafumi Yamato,   Kohki Takahashi
cond-mat.soft cond-mat.mtrl-sci physics.chem-ph