Magnetically oriented lipid/detergent bilayers are potentially useful for studies of membrane-associated molecules and complexes using x-ray scattering and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). To establish whether the system is a reasonable model of a phospholipid bilayer, we have studied the system using x-ray solution scattering to determine the bilayer thickness, interparticle spacing, and orientational parameters for magnetically oriented lipid bilayers. The magnetically orientable samples contain the phospholipid L-alpha-dilauroylphosphatidylcholine (DLPC) and the bile salt analog 3-[(3-cholamidopropyl)dimethylammonio]-2-hydroxy-1-propanesulfonate (CHAPSO) in a 3:1 molar ratio in 70% water (w/v) and are similar to magnetically orientable samples used as NMR media for structural studies of membrane-associated molecules. A bilayer thickness of 30 A was determined for the DLPC/CHAPSO particles, which is the same as the bilayer thickness of pure DLPC vesicles, suggesting that the CHAPSO is not greatly perturbing the lipid bilayer. These data, as well as NMR data on molecules incorporated in the oriented lipid particles, are consistent with the sample consisting of reasonably homogeneous and well dispersed lipid particles. Finally, the orientational energy of the sample suggests that the size of the cooperatively orienting unit in the samples is 2 x 10(7) phospholipid molecules.