We report on experiments giving evidence for quantum effects of electromagnetic flux in barium alumosilicate glass. In contrast to expectation, below 100 mK the dielectric response becomes sensitive to magnetic fields. The experimental findings include both lifting of the dielectric saturation by weak magnetic fields and oscillations of the dielectric response in the low temperature resonant regime. As the origin of these effects we suggest that the magnetic induction field violates the time reversal invariance leading to a flux periodicity in the energy levels of tunneling systems. At low temperatures, this effect is strongly enhanced by the interaction between tunneling systems and thus becomes measurable.

Recently, it was found that the multi-component glass a-BaO-Al2O3-SiO2 exhibits unusual magnetic properties at very low temperatures. Thus the question arises whether this is a specialty of that particular glass or a more general phenomenon. We report here on our studies of the magnetic-field dependence of the dielectric properties of the borosilicate glass BK7 which contains only a negligible amount of magnetic impurities. Since this glass also responds sensitively to magnetic fields, our investigations demonstrate that the reaction of glasses to magnetic fields is not caused by magnetic impurities but reflects a more general phenomenon. In addition, we have observed that the variation of the dielectric constant and the loss angle with magnetic field depend on the amplitude of the electric field that is used to measure the glass capacitance. We present the data and discuss possible origins of the magnetic-field phenomena in non-magnetic glasses.