The Zeeman effect (IPA ) is the splitting of a spectral line into several components in the presence of a magnetic field. It is analogous to the Stark effect, the splitting of a spectral line into several components in the presence of an electric field.

Introduction

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In most atoms, there exist several electronic configurations that have the same energy, so that transitions between different pairs of configurations correspond to a single line.

The presence of a magnetic field breaks the degeneracy, since it interacts in a different way with electrons with different quantum numbers, slightly modifying their energies. The result is that, where there were several configurations with the same energy, now there are different energies, which give rise to several very close spectral lines.

Without a magnetic field, configurations a, b and c have the same energy, as do d, e and f. The presence of a magnetic field splits the energy levels. A line produced by a transition from a, b or c to d, e or f now will be several lines between different combinations of a, b, c and d, e, f. Not all transitions will be possible -- see transition rules.

Since the distance between the Zeeman sub-levels is proportional with the magnetic field, this effect was used by astronomers to measure the magnetic field of the Sun and other stars.

There is also an anomalous Zeeman effect that appears on transitions where the net spin of the electrons is not 0, the number of Zeeman sub-levels being even instead of odd if there's an uneven number of electrons involved. It was called "anomalous" because the electron spin had not yet been discovered, and so there was no good explanation for it, at the time that Zeeman observed the effect.

If the magnetic field strength is too high, the effect is no longer linear; at even higher field strength, electron coupling is disturbed and the spectral lines rearrange. This is called Paschen-Back effect.

The Zeeman effect is named after the Dutch physicist Pieter Zeeman.

Theoretical presentation

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The total Hamiltonian of an atom in a magnetic field is:

$H\; =\; H\_0\; +\; H\_1$

= H_0 + \sum_\alpha \xi(\vec{r_\alpha}) \vec{L} \cdot \vec{S} -\sum_\alpha \vec{\mu_{\alpha}} \cdot \vec{B}

where $H\_0$ is the unperturbed Hamiltonian of the atom, and the sums over α are sums over the electrons in the atom. The term

$\backslash xi(\backslash vec\{r\_\backslash alpha\})\; \backslash vec\{L\}\; \backslash cdot\; \backslash vec\{S\}$

is the LS-coupling for each electron (indexed by α) in the atom. The sum vanishes if there is only one electron. The magnetic coupling

$\backslash vec\{\backslash mu\_\{\backslash alpha\}\}\; \backslash cdot\; \backslash vec\{B\}\; =\; \backslash frac\{\backslash mu\_\{B\}\}\{\backslash hbar\}(g\_L\; \backslash vec\{L\}\; +\; g\_S\; \backslash vec\{S\})\; \backslash cdot\; \backslash vec\{B\}$

is the energy due to the magnetic moment μ of the α-th electron. It can be written as sum of contributions of the orbital angular momentum and of spin angular momentum, with each multiplied by the gyroscopic or Landé g-factor. By projecting the vector quantities onto the z-axis, the Hamiltonian may be written as

$H\; =\; H\_0\; +\; \backslash xi(r)\; \backslash vec\{L\}\backslash cdot\; \backslash vec\{S\}\; +\; \backslash mu\_B\; (g\_L\; L\_z+\; g\_s\; S\_z)\; B\_z$

\approx H_{at} + \frac{\mu_B}{\hbar}(J_z + S_z) B_z

where the approximation results from taking the g-factors are $g\_L=1$ and $g\_S\; \backslash approx\; 2$. The summation over the electrons was omitted for readability. Here, $J\_z=L\_z+S\_z$ is the total angular momentum, and the LS-coupling term has been folded into $H\_0$.

The size of the interaction term H ' is not always small, and can induce large effects on the system. In the Paschen-Back effect, described below, H ' cannot be treated as a perturbation, as its magnitude is comparable to or larger than the unperturbed system $H\_\{at\}$. The H ' term does not commute with $H\_\{at\}$. In particular, $S\_z$ doesn't commute with the spin-orbit interaction in $H\_\{at\}$.

Strong Field (Paschen-Back effect)

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To simplify the solution, it is useful to assume that $*=0$, so that $L\_\{z\}$ and $S\_\{z\}$ have a set of common eigenfunctions with respect to $H\_\{at\}$. This allows the expectation values of $L\_\{z\}$ and $S\_\{z\}$ to be easily evaluated on a general state $|A\backslash rangle$:

$\backslash left(\; H\_\{at\}\; +\; \backslash frac\{B\_\{z\}\backslash mu\_B\}\{\backslash hbar\}(L\_\{z\}+2S\_z)\; \backslash right)\; |A\; \backslash rangle\; =\; (E\_\{at\}\; +\; B\_z\backslash mu\_B\; (m\_l\; +\; 2m\_s)|A\backslash rangle$

The above may be read as implying that the LS-coupling is completely broken by the external field. The system re-arranges substantially according to the $B\_z$ field. The $m\_l$ and $m\_s$ are still "good" quantum numbers. This implies that the selection rules obtained from $\backslash Delta\; S\; =\; 0,\; \backslash Delta\; L\; =\; \backslash pm\; 1$ are still very likely for the system. In particular, apart from the line splittings one might normally expect, only three spectral lines will be visible, corresponding to the $\backslash Delta\; m\; =\; \backslash pm\; 1$ transition rule. The splitting depends upon the l level being considered. The spectral lines depend on the transition frequencies, that is, on the difference of energy.

See also

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• Stark effect

References

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Historical

• (Chapter 16 provides a comprehensive treatment, as of 1935.)

Modern

Atomic physics | Magnetism | Foundational quantum physics | Physical phenomena

Efecte Zeeman | Zeeman-Effekt | Efecto Zeeman | Effet Zeeman | 제이만 효과 | Zeeman-hatás | Zeemaneffect | ゼーマン効果 | Efekt Zeemana | Эффект Зеемана | Земанов ефекат | 塞曼效应