Smolyaninova, Vera N.Yost, Bradley J.2015-12-172015-12-172014-07-242014-05TSP2014Yosthttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/2019(M.S.) -- Towson University, 2014.In this study we examine the optical properties of a cobalt based ferrofluid when a magnetic field is applied. By performing optical transmission measurements we show that when a strong enough magnetic field is applied the ferrofluid behaves as a hyperbolic metamaterial. A hyperbolic metamaterial is a material that has unique optical properties which cause it to behave as a metal for one polarization direction of light and as a dielectric for the orthogonal polarization direction. By performing Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy we further demonstrate the unique properties of ferrofluid as hyperbolic metamaterial such as extreme sensitivity of the material to monolayer coatings of cobalt nanoparticles, which is relevant to applications in biological and chemical sensing. We also show that the ferrofluid can be used as a Minkowski spacetime analogue, where thermal fluctuations in our ferrofluid look similar to the creation and disappearance of individual Minkowski spacetimes.application/pdfviii, 32 pagesengCopyright protected, all rights reserved.Text