Magnetic Birefringence Study of the Magnetic Core Structure of Ferritin

Magnetically induced optical birefringence (Δ n) was measured for magnetoferritin and horse spleen ferritin aqueous suspensions. The Δ n for magnetoferritin was described in the frame of the Langevin formalism taking into account distribution of core diameter. The established average magnetic dipole moment and core diameter is equal to about 460 $μ_{B}$ and 3 nm, respectively. It was shown that magnetic birefringence and the Cotton-Mouton constant can be powerful parameters in identification of the magnetic core structure of ferritin, especially useful in biomedicine.