Atomic Physics

P. Ewart
Contents
1 Introduction 1
2 Radiation and Atoms 1
2.1 Width and Shape of Spectral Lines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.1.1 Lifetime Broadening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.1.2 Collision or Pressure Broadening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.1.3 Doppler Broadening . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2 Atomic Orders of Magnitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.2.1 Other important Atomic quantities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2.3 The Central Field Approximation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.4 The form of the Central Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.5 Finding the Central Field . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3 The Central Field Approximation 9
3.1 The Physics of the Wave Functions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.1.1 Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3.1.2 Angular Momentum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
3.1.3 Radial wavefunctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.1.4 Parity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.2 Multi-electron atoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.2.1 Electron Congurations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.2.2 The Periodic Table . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.3 Gross Energy Level Structure of the Alkalis: Quantum Defect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
4 Corrections to the Central Field: Spin-Orbit interaction 17
4.1 The Physics of Spin-Orbit Interaction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
4.2 Finding the Spin-Orbit Correction to the Energy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.2.1 The B-Field due to Orbital Motion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
4.2.2 The Energy Operator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4.2.3 The Radial Integral . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
4.2.4 The Angular Integral: Degenerate Perturbation Theory . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4.2.5 Degenerate Perturbation theory and the Vector Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
4.2.6 Evaluation of
_
s

l
_
using DPT and the Vector Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
4.3 Spin Orbit Interaction: Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.4 Spin-Orbit Splitting: Alkali Atoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
4.5 Spectroscopic Notation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
i
5 Two-electron Atoms: Residual Electrostatic Eects and LS-Coupling 30
5.1 Magnesium: Gross Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
5.2 The Electrostatic Perturbation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
5.3 Symmetry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
5.4 Orbital eects on electrostatic interaction in LS-coupling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
5.5 Spin-Orbit Eects in 2-electron Atoms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
6 Nuclear Eects on Atomic Structure 37
6.1 Hyperne Structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
6.2 The Magnetic Field of Electrons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
6.3 Coupling of I and J . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
6.4 Finding the Nuclear Spin, I . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
6.5 Isotope Eects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
7 Selection Rules 42
7.1 Parity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
7.2 Conguration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
7.3 Angular Momentum Rules . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
8 Atoms in Magnetic Fields 44
8.1 Weak eld, no spin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
8.2 Weak Field with Spin and Orbit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
8.2.1 Anomalous Zeeman Pattern . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
8.2.2 Polarization of the radiation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
8.3 Strong elds, spin and orbit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
8.4 Intermediate elds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
8.5 Magnetic eld eects on hyperne structure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 52
8.5.1 Weak eld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
8.5.2 Strong eld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
9 X-Rays: transitions involving inner shell electrons 56
9.1 X-ray Spectra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56
9.2 X-ray series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 57
9.3 Fine structure of X-ray spectra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
9.4 X-ray absorption . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
9.5 Auger Eect . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
10 High Resolution Laser Spectroscopy 61
10.1 Absorption Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
10.2 Laser Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
10.3 Spectral resolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
10.4 Doppler Free spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
10.4.1 Crossed beam spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
10.4.2 Saturation Spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
10.4.3 Two-photon-spectroscopy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
10.5 Calibration of Doppler-free Spectra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
10.6 Comparison of Doppler-free Methods . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
ii
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 1 Introduction
1 Introduction
The structure of atoms and their behaviour is responsible for the appearance of the visible world.
The small scale of atoms and the properties of nuclei and electrons required a new kind of mechanics
to describe their behaviour. Quantum Mechanics was developed in order to explain such phenomena
as the spectra of light emitted or absorbed by atoms. So far you have studied the physics of hydrogen
and helium as illustrations of how to apply Quantum Theory. There was a time, a few seconds after
the Big Bang, when the Universe consisted only of hydrogen and helium nucleii. It took another
300,000 years for atoms, as such, to form. Things, however, have moved on and the universe is
now a much more interesting place with heavier and more complicated atoms. Our aim is now to
understand Atomic Physics, not just to illustrate the mathematics of Quantum Mechanics. This
is both interesting and important, for Atomic Physics is the foundation for a wide range of basic
science and practical technology. The structure and properties of atoms are the basis of Chemistry,
and hence of Biology. Atomic Physics underlies the study of Astrophysics and Solid State Physics. It
has led to important applications in medicine, communications, lasers etc, as well as still providing a
testing ground for Quantum Theory and its derivatives, Quantum Electrodynamics. We have learned
most about atoms from the light absorbed or emitted when they change their internal state. So that
is a good place to begin.
2 Radiation and Atoms
We will make extensive use of models in this course to help us get a feel for the physics. A favourite
model for theorists is the two-level atom i.e. one with only two eigenstates
1
,
2
with energy
eigenvalues E
1
, E
2
respectively (E
2
> E
1
). The wave functions have, in general, a time dependence.

1
=
1
(x)e
iE
1
t/
(1)

2
=
2
(x)e
iE
2
t/
(2)
When the atom is perturbed it may be described by a wave function that is a linear combination
of
1
and
2
: = a
1
+ b
2
giving the probability amplitude. We observe, however, a probability
density: the modulus squared; [[
2
. This will have a term
ab
1

2
e
i(E
1
E
2
)t/
(3)
This is a time oscillating electron density with a frequency
12
:
e
i(E
1
E
2
)t/
= e
i
12
t
(4)
So
E
2
E
1
=
12
(5)
This is illustrated schematically in gure 1.
1
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 2 Radiation and Atoms
y
1 y
2
y( ) = + t y y
1 2
IY( ) t I
2
Y( ) t Y( t) t+
Oscillatingchargecloud:Electricdipole
I I Y( + t) t
2
Figure 1: Evolution of the wavefunction of a system with time.
So the perturbation produces a charge cloud that oscillates in space an oscillating dipole. This
radiates dipole radiation. Whether or not we get a charge displacement or dipole will depend on the
symmetry properties of the two states
1
, and
2
. The rules that tell us if a dipole with be set up
are called selection rules, a topic to which we will return later in the course.
2.1 Width and Shape of Spectral Lines
The radiation emitted (or absorbed) by our oscillating atomic dipole is not exactly monochromatic,
i.e. there will be a range of frequency values for
12
. The spectral line observed is broadened by
one, or more, processes. A process that aects all the atoms in the same way is called Homoge-
neous Broadening. A process that aects dierent individual atoms dierently is Inhomogeneous
Broadening.
Examples of homogeneous broadening are lifetime (or natural) broadening or collision (or pres-
sure) broadening. Examples of inhomogeneous broadening are Doppler broadening and crystal eld
broadening.
2.1.1 Lifetime Broadening
This eect may be viewed as a consequence of the uncertainty principle
Et (6)
Since E = , E = and if the time uncertainty t is the natural lifetime of the excited atomic
state, , we get a spread in frequency of the emitted radiation
1 or
1

(7)
2
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 2 Radiation and Atoms
The lifetime, , is a statistical parameter related to the time taken for the population of the excited
state to decay to 1/e of its initial value. This exponential decay is reected in the experimental
decay of the amplitude E(t) of the light wave emitted. The frequency (or power) spectrum of an
exponentially decaying amplitude is a Lorentzian shape for the intensity as a function of frequency
I()
1
(
0
)
2
+ (1/)
2
(8)
The full width at half-maximum, FWHM, is then
2
_
1

_
(9)
A typical lifetime 10
8
sec.
N( ) t I( ) w
Time, t frequency, w
Intensityspectrum Numberofexcitedatoms
Exponentialdecay Lorentzianlineshape
Figure 2: Decay of excited state population N(t) leads to similar exponential decay of radiation
amplitude, giving a Lorentzian spectrum.
2.1.2 Collision or Pressure Broadening
A collision with another atom while the atom is radiating (oscillating) disrupts the phase of the
wave. The wave is therefore composed of various lengths of uninterrupted waves. The number
of uninterrupted waves decays exponentially with a 1/e time
c
, which is the mean time between
collisions. At atmospheric pressure this is typically 10
10
sec. The exponential decay of the
coherent oscillations again leads to a Lorentzian lineshape.
N( ) t I( ) w
Time, t frequency, w
Intensityspectrum Numberofuncollidedatoms
Exponentialdecay Lorentzianlineshape
Figure 3: Decay in number of undisturbed atoms radiating leads to decay in amplitude of wave
undisturbed by a phase changing collision. The associated frequency spectrum is again
Lorentzian.
3
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 2 Radiation and Atoms
2.1.3 Doppler Broadening
Atoms in a gas have a spread of speeds given by the Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution. The Doppler
shift of the light emitted is therefore dierent for the atoms moving at dierent speeds. There is then
a spread of Doppler shifted frequencies leading to a broadening of the spectral line. Since dierent
atoms are aected dierently this Doppler Broadening is Inhomogeneous broadening. The Doppler
shift is given by:
=
0
_
1
v
c
_
(10)
The spread, or width of the line, is therefore

D

0
v
c
(11)
Since
0
10
15
rad s
1
and v 10
2
ms
1
we nd

D
210
9
rad s
1
(12)
10
9
Hz (13)
N(v) I( ) w
atomicspeed,v frequency, w
Dopplerbroadening Distributionofatomicspeed
Maxwell-Boltzmann
distribution
Gaussianlineshape
Figure 4: Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution of speeds and the associated Doppler broadening giving a
Gaussian lineshape.
2.2 Atomic Orders of Magnitude
We have already started getting a feel for typical values of parameters associated with spectral lines,
so now is a good time to do the same for some other aspects of atoms. It is important to have some
idea of the orders of magnitude associated with atoms and their structure. We will be looking at
atoms more complex than Hydrogen and Helium for which we cant solve the Schrodinger Equation
exactly. We have to do the best we can with approximate solutions using Perturbation Theory. So
we need to know when perturbation theory will give a reasonable answer. We will be particularly
interested in the energy level structure of atoms so lets start there.
First a word about units. Atoms are small 10
10
m and their internal energies are small; 10
19
Joule. So a Joule is an inconvenient unit. We will use electron Volts, eV, which is 2 10
19
J. We
have seen that atoms emit or absorb light in the UV or visible range say 500 nm. This must then
be of the order of the energy changes or binding energy of the outer, most loosely bound electron.
Now a wavelength 500 nm corresponds to a frequency, 6 10
14
Hz. So from E = h we
nd E 40 10
34
10
14
4 10
19
J 2eV.
4
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 2 Radiation and Atoms
We could also check this using the size of an atom ( 10
10
m) using the Uncertainty Principle.
p x (14)
p p

x
(15)
E =
p
2
2m

_

x
_
2
/(2m) a few eV (16)
We can compare 2 eV with thermal energy or kT i.e. the mean Kinetic energy available from
heat,
1
40
eV. This is not enough to excite atoms by collisions so atoms will mostly be in their ground
state.
2.2.1 Other important Atomic quantities
Atomic size: Bohr radius
a
0
=
4
0

2
me
2
= 0.53 10
10
m (17)
Ionisation Energy of Hydrogen
E
H
=
me
4
(4
0
)
2
2
2
= 13.6 eV (18)
Rydberg constant
R =
E
H
hc
= 1.097 10
7
m
1
(19)
R is useful is relating wavelengths to energies of transitions since wavenumber =
1

in units of
m
1
.
Fine structure constant
=
e
2
4
0
c

1
137
(20)
This is a dimensionless constant that gives a measure of the relative strength of the electromagnetic
force. It is actually also the ratio of the speed v
e
of the electron in the ground state of H to c, the
speed of light. = v
e
/c and so it is a measure of when relativistic eects become important.
Bohr magneton

B
=
e
2m
9.27 10
24
JT
1
(21)
This is the basic unit of magnetic moment corresponding to an electron in a circular orbit with
angular momentum , or one quantum of angular momentum.
As well as having orbital angular momentum the electron also has intrinsic spin and spin magnetic
moment
S
= 2
B
. A proton also has spin but because its mass is 2000 larger than an electron
its magnetic moment is 2000 times smaller. Nuclear moments are in general 2000 times smaller
than electron moments.
5
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 2 Radiation and Atoms
2.3 The Central Field Approximation
We can solve the problem of two bodies interacting with each other via some force e.g. a star and
one planet with gravitational attraction, or a proton and one electron the hydrogen atom. If we
add an extra planet then things get dicult. If we add any more we have a many body problem
which is impossible to solve exactly. Similarly, for a many electron atom we are in serious diculty
we will need to make some approximation to simplify the problem. We know how to do Hydrogen;
we solve the Schrodinger equation:

2
2m

2

Ze
2
4
0
r
= E (22)
We can nd zero order solutions wave functions that we can use to calculate smaller perturbations
e.g. spin-orbit interaction.
The Hamiltonian for a many electron atom however, is much more complicated.

H =
N

i=1
_

2
2m

2
i

Ze
2
4
0
r
i
_
+

i>j
e
2
4
0
r
ij
(23)
We ignore, for now, other interactions like spin-orbit. We have enough on our plate! The second
term on the r.h.s. is the mutual electrostatic repulsion of the N electrons, and this prevents us from
separating the equation into a set of N individual equations. It is also too large to treat as a small
perturbation.
We recall that the hydrogen problem was solved using the symmetry of the central Coulomb eld
the 1/r potential. This allowed us to separate the radial and angular solutions. In the many electron
case, for most of the time, a major part of the repulsion between one electron and the others acts
towards the centre. So we replace the 1/r, hydrogen-like, potential with an eective potential due to
the nucleus and the centrally acting part of the 1/r
ij
repulsion term. We call this the Central Field
U(r). Note it will not be a 1/r potential. We now write the Hamiltonian

H =

H
0
+

H
1
(24)
where

H
0
=

i
_

2
2m

2
i
+U(r
i
)
_
(25)
and

H
1
=

i>j
e
2
4
0
r
ij

i
_
Ze
2
4
0
r
i
+U(r
i
)
_
(26)

H
1
is the residual electrostatic interaction. Our approximation is now to assume

H
1
<<

H
0
and
then we can use perturbation theory.
The procedure is to start with just

H
0
. Since this is a central potential the equations are separable.
Solutions for the individual electrons will have the form:
(n, l, m
l
, m
s
) = R

n,l
(r)Y
m
l
(, )(m
s
) (27)
So far, in this approximation the angular functions Y
m
l
(, ) and spin functions (m
s
) will be the
same as for hydrogen. The radial functions will be dierent but they will have some features of the
hydrogenic radial functions. The wave function for the whole atom will consist of antisymmetric
products of the individual electron wave functions. The point is that we can use these zero order
wavefunctions as a basis set to evaluate the perturbation due to the residual electrostatic interactions

H
1
. We can then nd new wavefunctions for the perturbed system to evaluate other, presumed
smaller, perturbations such as spin-orbit interaction. When it comes to the test we will have to
decide in any particular atom, which is the larger of the two perturbations but more of that later.
6
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 2 Radiation and Atoms
2.4 The form of the Central Field
Calculating the form of U(r
i
) is a dicult problem. We can, however, get a feel for the answer in
two limiting situations. Firstly, imagine one electron is taken far away from the nucleus, and the
other electrons. What form of potential will it see? Clearly, there are then Z protons surrounded
apparently by Z 1 electrons in a roughly spherically symmetric cloud. Our electron then sees, at
large r, a Hydrogen-like 1/r potential. Secondly, what happens when our electron goes inside the
cloud of other electrons? Here, at small r, it sees Z protons and feels a Z/r potential.
r
U(r)
1/r
~Z/r
Actual
Potential
Figure 5: Actual potential experienced by an electron behaves like 1/r at large r and Z/r for small
r. The intermediate r case is somewhere between the two.
The potential then looks like it has the form
U(r) = Z
e
(r)
e
2
4
0
r
(28)
Where Z
e
(r) varies from Z at small r to 1 at large r.
~Z
Z
eff
1
Radialposition,r
Figure 6: The variation of the eective Z that the electron feels as a function of r.
Note, for most of the important space U(r) is not a 1/r potential.
7
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 2 Radiation and Atoms
2.5 Finding the Central Field
The method of nding a good approximation to the Central Field is based on a Self consistent eld.
This was rst done by Hartree and his method was further developed by Fock so that we now call it
the Hartree-Fock method. Hartrees basic idea was to nd the best form of the potential by a series
of iterations based on some initial guess. It works as follows.
(1) Guess a reasonable form for U(r)
(2) Put this guess for U(r) into the Schrodinger equation and solve to nd approximate wavefunc-
tions
(3) Use these wave functions to calculate the charge distribution of the electrons
(4) Find the potential set up by this charge distribution and see if it matches the original guess
for U(r).
(5) Iterate this procedure until a self-consistent solution is found.
This procedure is ideally suited to numerical solution by a computer. The solutions for the
wavefunctions will therefore be numerical i.e. they cant be expressed by nice analytical formu-
lae. Hartrees orginal method used simple product wavefunctions which were not correctly anti-
symmetric. Each of the electrons in this model move in a potential set up by the other electrons
and, as a result, the potentials are not the same for all the electrons and so the individual electron
states are not automatically orthogonal. The Hartree-Fock method uses an anti-symmetric basis
set of wavefunctions. These are constructed using determinants where columns represent quantum
states of individual electrons. This means that interchanging any column automatically changes the
sign and makes the states correctly antisymmetric. The product states for each electron contain
both space and spin functions. The potential is assumed to be the same for all the electrons. The
potential is varied so as to produce the minimum energy for the system. This is the Variational
Principle and has the same eect as nding a self-consistent eld. The Hartree-Fock method is now
the most commonly used way of nding wave functions and energy levels for many electron atoms.
The wavefunctions produced are again numerical rather than analytic.
8
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 3 The Central Field Approximation
3 The Central Field Approximation
To recap, we have lumped together the Coulomb attraction of the Z protons in the nucleus with the
centrally acting part of the mutual electrostatic repulsion of the electrons into U(r). This Central
Field goes like 1/r at large r and as Z/r at small r.
At in-between values of r things are more complicated but more interesting! The important
point is that we can, in many cases, treat the residual electrostatic interaction as a perturbation, so
the Hamiltonian for the Schrodinger equation will be

H =

H
0
+

H
1
+

H
2
+... (29)

H
1
will be the perturbation due to residual electrostatic interactions,

H
2
that due to spin-orbit
interactions. We will mostly deal with the cases where

H
1
>

H
2
but this wont be true for all
elements. We can also add smaller perturbations,

H
3
etc due to, for example, interactions with
external elds, or eects of the nucleus (other than its Coulomb attraction). The Central Field
Approximation allows us to nd solutions of the Schrodinger equation in terms of wave functions of
the individual electrons:
(n, l, m
l
, m
s
) (30)
The zero-order Hamiltonian

H
0
due to the Central Field will determine the gross structure of the
energy levels specied by n, l. The perturbation

H
1
, residual electrostatic, will split the energy levels
into dierent terms. The spin orbit interaction,

H
2
further splits the terms, leading to ne structure
of the energy levels. Nuclear eects lead to hyperne structures of the levels.
Within the approximation we have made, so far, the quantum numbers m
l
, m
s
do not aect the
energy.The energy levels are therefore degenerate with respect to m
l
, m
s
. The values of m
l
, m
s
or
any similar magnetic quantum number, specify the state of the atom.
There are 2l + 1 values of m
l
i.e. 2l + 1 states and the energy level is said to be (2l + 1)-fold
degenerate. The only dierence between states of dierent m
l
(or m
s
) is that the axis of their
angular momentum points in a dierent direction in space. We arbitrarily chose some z-axis so that
the projection on this axis of the orbital angular momentum l would have integer number of units
(quanta) of . (m
s
does the same for the projection of the spin angular momentum s on the z-axis).
(Atomic physicists are often a bit casual in their use of language and sometimes use the words en-
ergy level, and state (e.g. Excited state or ground state) interchangeably. This practice is regrettable
but usually no harm is done and it is unlikely to change anytime soon.)
3.1 The Physics of the Wave Functions
You will know (or you should know!) how to nd the form of the wave functions (n, l, m
l
, m
s
) in
the case of atomic hydrogen. In this course we want to understand the physics the maths is done in
the text books. (You may like to remind yourself of the maths after looking at the physics presented
here!) Before we look at many electron atoms, we remind ourselves of the results for hydrogen.
3.1.1 Energy
The energy eigenvalues, giving the quantized energy levels are given by:
E
n
=
_

n,l,m
l

n,l,m
l
_
(31)
=
Z
2
me
4
(4
0
)
2
2
2
n
2
(32)
Note that the energy depends only on n, the Principal quantum number. The energy does not depend
on l this is true ONLY FOR HYDROGEN! The energy levels are degenerate in l. We represent
the energy level structure by a (Grotrian) diagram.
9
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 3 The Central Field Approximation
1
2
3
4
n
Energy
-13.6eV
0
l = 012
spd
Figure 7: Energy level structure of hydrogen, illustrating how the bound state energy depends on n
but not l.
For historical reasons, the states with l = 0, 1, 2 are labelled s, p, d. For l = 3 and above the labels
are alphabetical f, g, h etc.
3.1.2 Angular Momentum
The wavefunction has radial and angular dependence. Since these vary independently we can write:

n,l,m
l
(r, , ) = R
n,l
(r)Y
m
l
l
(, ) (33)
R
n,l
(r) and Y
m
l
l
are radial and angular functions normalized as follows:
_
R
2
n,l
(r)r
2
dr = 1
_

Y
m
l
l
(, )

2
d = 1 (34)
The angular functions are eigenfunctions of the two operators

l
2
and

l
z
:

l
2
Y
m
l
l
(, ) = l(l + 1)
2
Y
m
l
l
(, ) (35)

l
z
Y
m
l
l
(, ) = m
l
Y
m
l
l
(, ) (36)
Where l(l + 1) and m
l
are the eigenvalues of

l
2
and

l
z
respectively, such that
l = 0, 1, 2...(n 1) l m
l
l (37)
The spin states of the electron can be included in the wave function by multiplying by a spin
function
s
which is an eigenfunction both of s
2
and s
z
with eigenvalues s(s+1) and m
s
respectively.
(s = 1/2 and m
s
= 1/2)
Roughly speaking, the angular functions specify the shape of the electron distribution and the
radial functions specify the size of the orbits.
l = 0, s-states, are non-zero at the origin (r = 0) and are spherically symmetric. Classically
they correspond to a highly elliptical orbit the electron motion is almost entirely radial. Quantum
mechanically we can visualise a spherical cloud expanding and contracting breathing, as the electron
moves in space.
10
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 3 The Central Field Approximation
l 1. As l increases, the orbit becomes less and less elliptical until for the highest l = (n 1) the
orbit is circular. An important case (i.e. worth remembering) is l = 1 (m
l
= 1, 0)
Y
1
1
=
_
3
8
_
1/2
sin e
i
(38)
Y
1
1
= +
_
3
8
_
1/2
sin e
i
(39)
Y
0
1
=
_
3
4
_
1/2
cos (40)
|Y
1
0
( )| q,f
2
(a)
|Y
1
+
( )| q,f
2
(b)
Figure 8: The angular functions, spherical harmonics, giving the angular distribution of the electron
probability density.
If there was an electron in each of these three states the actual shapes change only slightly to
give a spherically symmetric cloud. Actually we could t two electrons in each l state provided they
had opposite spins. The six electrons then ll the sub-shell (l = 1) In general, lled sub-shells are
spherically symmetric and set up, to a good approximation, a central eld.
As noted above the radial functions determine the size i.e. where the electron probability is
maximum.
11
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 3 The Central Field Approximation
3.1.3 Radial wavefunctions
246
246810
24681020
Zr a /
o
Zr a /
o
Zr a /
o
Groundstate, n=1, =0 l 1stexcitedstate, n=2, =0 l
2ndexcitedstate, n=3, =0 l
n=3, =2 l
N=2, =1 l
n=3, =1 l
2 1.0
1 0.5
0.4
Figure 9: Radial functions giving the radial distribution of the probability amplitude.
NB: Main features to remember!
l = 0, s-states do not vanish at r = 0.
l ,= 0, states vanish at r = 0 and have their maximum probability amplitude further out with
increasing l.
The size, position of peak probability, scales with n
2
.
The l = 0 function crosses the axis (n 1) times ie. has (n 1) nodes.
l = 1 has (n 2) nodes and so on.
Maximum l = n 1 has no nodes (except at r = 0)
3.1.4 Parity
The parity operator is related to the symmetry of the wave function. The parity operator takes
r r. It is like mirror reection through the origin.
and + (41)
If this operation leaves the sign of unchanged the parity is even. If changes sign the parity is
odd. Some states are not eigenstates of the parity operator i.e. they do not have a denite parity.
The parity of two states is an important factor in determining whether or not a transition between
them is allowed by emitting or absorbing a photon. For a dipole transition the parity must change.
12
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 3 The Central Field Approximation
In central elds the parity is given by (1)
l
. So l = 0, 2 even states, s, d etc. are even parity and
l = 1, 3, odd states are odd parity. Hence dipole transitions are allowed for sp or pd, but not
allowed for ss or sd.
3.2 Multi-electron atoms
3.2.1 Electron Congurations
Before considering details about multi-electron atoms we make two observations on the Central Field
Approximation based on the exact solutions for hydrogen.
Firstly, for a central eld the angular wave functions will be essentially the same as for hydrogen.
Secondly, the radial functions will have similar properties to hydrogen functions; specically they
will have the same number of nodes.
The energy level-structure for a multi-electron atom is governed by two important principles:
a) Paulis Exclusion Principle and
b) Principle of Least Energy
Pauli forbids all the electrons going into the lowest or ground energy eld. The Least Energy
principle requires that the lowest energy levels will be lled rst. The n = 1, l = 0 level can take a
maximum of two electrons. The least energy principle then means the next electron must go into the
next lowest energy level i.e. n = 2. Given that l can take values up to n = 1 and each l-value can
have two values of spin, s, there are 2n
2
vacancies for electrons for each value of n. Our hydrogen
solutions show that higher n values lead to electrons having a most probable position at larger values
of r. These considerations lead to the concept of shells, each labelled by their value of n.
Now look at the distribution of the radial probability for the hydrogenic wave functions R
n,l
(r). The
low angular momentum states, especially s-states have the electrons spending some time inside the
orbits of lower shell electrons. At these close distances they are no longer screened from the nucleus
Z protons and so they will be more tightly bound than their equivalent state in hydrogen. The energy
level will depend on the degree to which the electron penetrates the core of inner electrons, and this
depends on l. Therefore the energy levels are no longer degenerate in l. To this approximation m
l
and m
s
do not aect the energy. We can therefore specify the energy of the whole system by the
energy of the electrons determined by quantum numbers n and l. Specifying n, l for each electron
gives the electron congurations: nl
x
where x indicates the number of electrons with a given nl.
3.2.2 The Periodic Table
As atomic science developed the elements were grouped together according to perceived similarities
in their physical or chemical properties. Several dierent periodic tables were proposed. The one
we all learned in our chemistry classes has been adopted since it has a basis in the fundamental
structure of the atoms of each element. The physical and chemical properties, e.g. gas, solid, liquid,
reactivity etc are seen to be consequences of atomic structure. In particular they arise largely from
the behaviour of the outer shell or most loosely bound electrons.
Using the Pauli Principle and the Least energy Principle we can construct the congurations of
the elements in their ground states:-
13
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 3 The Central Field Approximation
H: 1s
He: 1s
2
2s
Li: 1s
2
2s
2
Be: 1s
2
2s
2
2p
C: 1s
2
2s
2
2p
2
. . .
Ne: 1s
2
2s
2
2p
6
Na: 1s
2
2s
2
2p
6
3s
Everything proceeds according to this pattern up to Argon: 1s
2
2s
2
2p
6
3s
2
3p
6
At this point things get a little more complicated. We expect the next electron to go into the 3d
sub-shell. As we have seen, however, a 3d electron is very like a 3d electron in hydrogen: it spends
most of its time in a circular orbit outside the inner shell electrons. An electron in a 4s state however
goes relatively close to the nucleus, inside the core, and so ends up more tightly bound - i.e. lower
energy, than the 3d electron. So the next element, Potassium, has the conguration
K: 1s
2
2s
2
2p
6
3s
2
3p
6
4s
Ca: 4s
2
The 3d shell now begins to ll
Sc: 1s
2
2s
2
2p
6
3s
2
3p
6
3d 4s
2
The 3d and 4s energies are now very similar and at Chromium a 3d electron takes precedence over
a 4s electron
Va: 3s
2
3p
6
3d
3
4s
2
Cr: 3d
5
4s
Mn: 3d
5
4s
2
As the 3d shell lls up, the successive elements, the transition elements, have interesting properties
as a result of the partially lled outer shell but this isnt on the syllabus!
There are, however, two features of the periodic table that are worth noting as consequences of
the Central Field Approximation.
Rare gases These elements are chemically inert and have high ionization potentials (the energy
needed to pull o a single electron). This is not because, as is sometimes (often) stated, that they
have closed shells. They dont all have closed shells i.e. all states for each n are full. They all do
have lled s and p sub-shells
He: 1s
2
Kr: 4s
2
4p
6
Ne: 1s
2
2p
6
Xe: 5s
2
5p
6
A: 1s
2
2p
6
3s
2
3p
6
Rn: 6s
2
6p
6
As we noted earlier this leads to a spherically symmetric charge distribution. Since electrons are
indistinguishable all the electrons take on a common wave function. The point is that this results in
a higher binding energy for each one of the electrons. So it is harder for them to lose an electron in
a chemical bond they are chemically inert and have high ionization energies.
14
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 3 The Central Field Approximation
Alkalis These are the next elements to the rare gases and have one electron outside the full (sp)
sub-shells. This outer, or valence, electron therefore moves in a hydrogen like central potential. The
electron is generally well-screened by (Z 1) inner electrons from the nucleus and is easily lost to
a chemical bond (ionic or co-valent). They are chemically reactive and have low ionization energies
which dont change much from one alkali to another.
3.3 Gross Energy Level Structure of the Alkalis: Quantum Defect
As noted already, the single outer electron in an alkali moves in a potential that is central to an
excellent approximation. We are ignoring, at this stage, any other perturbations such as spin-orbit
interaction. As an example we consider sodium. The ground stage (lowest energy level) has the
conguration:
(closed shells) 3s.
We know the 3s penetrates the core (inner shells) and is therefore more tightly bound lower
energy than a 3s electron would be in Hydrogen. When the electron is excited, say to 3p, it
penetrates the core much less and in a 3d state its orbit is virtually circular and very close the n = 3
level of Hydrogen.
The higher excited states n > 3 will follow a similar pattern. The thing to notice and this turns
out to be experimentally useful is that the degree of core penetration depends on l and very little
on n. As a result the deviation from the hydrogenic energy level is almost constant for a given l as
n increases.
The hydrogen energy levels can be expressed as
E
n
=
R
n
2
(42)
For alkalis, and to some degree for other atoms too, the excited state energies may be expressed as
E
n
=
R
(n

)
2
(43)
Where n

is an eective quantum number. n

diers from the equivalent n-value in hydrogen by (l)

i.e. n

= n (l).
(l) is the quantum defect and depends largely on l only. It is found empirically, and it can be
shown theoretically, to be independent of n. Thus all s-states will have the same quantum defect
(s); all p-states will have the same (p), etc and (s) > (p) > (d).
For Na:
(s) 1.34
(p) 0.88
(d) 0
For heavier alkalis, the (l) generally increases as the core is less and less hydrogen-like. The
ionization potential however is almost constant as noted previously. Although the increase in Z leads
to stronger binding than in hydrogen the ground state electron starts in a higher n, and this almost
exactly o-sets the increased attraction of the heavier nucleus.
Everyone knows that the discrete wavelengths of light emitted, or absorbed, by an atom are discrete
because they arise from transitions between the discrete energy levels. But how do we know which
energy levels? This is where the quantum eect is very useful.
We also need to remember that a transition involves a change in l of 1 (l = 1). A transition
from a lower state will therefore take the atom to an energy level with angular momentum diering
15
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 3 The Central Field Approximation
by 1 from the initial level. For simplicity, so that the general idea becomes clear, we consider
transitions from the ground state. If the ground state (level) has l = 0 then there will then be only a
single set of transitions to levels with angular momentum one unit larger i.e. l = 1. The spectrum of
absorption lines will consist of a series of lines of increasing wavenumber (energy) corresponding to
transitions to excited states with increasing principal quantum number n. Since these excited levels
all have the same value of l they should have the same value of quantum defect. So if we can identify
lines with the same quantum defect they will belong to the same series i.e. have the same angular
momentum quantum number l. The procedure is then as follows.
(1) Measure the wavelength of each absorption line in the series,
n
.
(2) Calculate the corresponding wavenumber
n
=
1
n
(3) Estimate the value of the series limit

. This corresponds to the ionization potential or Term

value for the ground state, T
n
o
.
(4) Find the Term value, T
n
, or binding energy of an excited level from the dierence between

and
n
:
T
n
i
= T
n
o

n
(5) The Term value is given by the hydrogenic formula:
T
n
i
=
R

(n

i
)
2
where n

i
is the eective quantum number given by:
n

i
= n (l)
and (l) is the quantum defect.
(6) Finally we plot (l) against T
n
i
. This should be a straight line indicating a constant value of
(l). Deviation from a straight line indicates that we have not estimated

(i.e. T
n
o
) correctly.
(7) The procedure is then to try a dierent value of T
n
o
until we obtain a straight line. This process
is ideally suited to computation by a program that minimizes the deviation from a straight line for
various values of T
n
o
.
Once we have found the most accurate value of T
n
o
from the spectrum we can put the energy
levels on an absolute energy scale. We have then determined the energy level structure of the atom
for this set of angular momentum states. The procedure can be carried out using data from emission
spectra. In this case a range of dierent series will be be provided from the spectrum. It remains to
nd the quantum defects for each series of lines and assign values of l to each series of levels. From
the discussion above the quantum defects will decrease for increasing l.
Figure 10: Plot of quantum defect (l) against Term value, showing eect of choosing T
n
o
either too
large or too small. The correct value of T
n
o
yields a horizontal plot.
16
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 4 Corrections to the Central Field: Spin-Orbit interaction
4 Corrections to the Central Field: Spin-Orbit interaction
The Central Field Approximation gives us a zero-order Hamiltonian

H
0
that allows us to solve the
Schrodinger equation and thus nd a set of zero-order wavefunctions
i
. The hope is that we can
treat the residual electrostatic interaction (i.e. the non-central bit of the electron-electron repulsion)
as a small perturbation,

H
1
. The change to the energy would be found using the functions
i
.
The residual electrostatic interaction however isnt the only perturbation around. Magnetic inter-
actions arise when there are moving charges. Specically we need to consider the magnetic interaction
between the magnetic moment due to the electron spin and the magnetic eld arising from the elec-
tron orbit. This eld is due to the motion of the electron in the electric eld of the nucleus and the
other electrons. This spin-orbit interaction has an energy described by the perturbation

H
2
. The
question is: which is the greater perturbation,

H
1
or

H
2
?
We may be tempted to assume

H
1
>

H
2
since electrostatic forces are usually much stronger than
magnetic ones. However by setting up a Central Field we have already dealt with the major part
of the electrostatic interaction. The remaining bit may not be larger than the magnetic spin-orbit
interaction. In many atoms the residual electrostatic interaction,

H
1
, does indeed dominate the spin-
orbit. There is, however, a set of atoms where the residual electrostatic repulsion is eectively zero;
the alkali atoms. In the alkalis we have only one electron orbiting outside a spherically symmetric
core. The central eld is, in this case, an excellent approximation. The spin-orbit interaction,

H
2
will be the largest perturbation provided there are no external elds present. So we will take the
alkalis e.g. Sodium, as a suitable case for treatment of spin-orbit eects in atoms. You have already
met the spin-orbit eect in atomic hydrogen, so you will be familiar with the quantum mechanics for
calculating the splitting of the energy levels. There are, however, some important dierences in the
case of more complex atoms. In any case, we are interested in understanding the physics, not just
doing the maths of simple systems. In what follows we shall rst outline the physics of the electrons
spin magnetic moment interacting with the magnetic eld, B, due to its motion in the central eld
(nucleus plus inner shell electrons). The interaction energy is found to be B so the perturbation
to the energy, E, will be the expectation value of the corresponding operator

B
_
.
We then use perturbation theory to nd E. We will not, however, be able simply to use our
zero order wavefunctions
0
(n, l, m
l
, m
s
) derived from our Central Field Approximation, since they
are degenerate in m
l
, m
s
. We then have to use degenerate perturbation theory, DPT, to solve the
problem. We wont have to actually do any complicated maths because it turns out that we can use
a helpful model the Vector Model, that guides us to the solution, and gives some insight into the
physics of what DPT is doing.
4.1 The Physics of Spin-Orbit Interaction
What happens to a magnetic dipole in a magnetic eld? A negatively charged object having a
moment of inertia I, rotating with angular velocity , has angular momentum, I = . The energy
is then E =
1
2
I
2
We suppose the angular momentum vector is at an angle to the z-axis. The rotating charge
has a magnetic moment
= (44)
The sign is negative as we have a negative charge. is known as the gyromagnetic ratio. (Classically
= 1 for an orbiting charge, and = 2 for a spinning charge).
If a constant magnetic eld B is applied along the z-axis the moving charge experiences a force
a torque acts on the body producing an extra rotational motion around the z-axis. The axis of
rotation of precesses around the direction of B with angular velocity

. The angular motion of

our rotating change is changed by this additional precession from to +

cos(). If the angular

momentum was in the opposite direction then the new angular velocity would be

cos().
17
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 4 Corrections to the Central Field: Spin-Orbit interaction
Figure 11: Illustration of the precession (Larmor precession) caused by the torque on the magnetic
moment by a magnetic eld B.
The new energy is, then
E

=
1
2
I(

cos )
2
(45)
=
1
2
I
2
+
1
2
I(

cos )
2
I

cos (46)
We now assume the precessional motion

to be slow compared to the original angular velocity .

<< so (

cos )
2
<<
2
and we neglect the second term on the r.h.s. The energy change
E = E

E is then
E = I

cos (47)
=

cos (48)
Now the precessional rate

is given by Larmors Theorem

= B (49)
So
E = Bcos (50)
Hence
E = B (51)
So B is just the energy of the precessional motion of in the B-eld.
(Note that cos is the projection of the angular momentum on the z-axis (B-direction)
Quantum mechanically this must be quantized in integer units of i.e. cos = m, the magnetic
quantum number. So the angular momentum vector can take up only certain discrete direc-
tions relative to the B-eld. This is the space or orientation quantization behind the Stern-Gerlach
experiment.)
18
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 4 Corrections to the Central Field: Spin-Orbit interaction
4.2 Finding the Spin-Orbit Correction to the Energy
Now that we know the perturbation Hamiltonian

H
2
= B we will use perturbation theory to
nd the expectation value of the change in energy; E =

B
_
The calculation proceeds in the
following steps;
Find the B-eld due to the electron motion
Set up the operator for B
This will have a dependence on radial position, r, and the spin and orbital angular momenta s
and l
Dierent relative orientations of s and l will have dierent energies of interaction and correspond
to dierent total angular momentum j = l +s
Dierent values of j will thus have dierent energy resulting in a splitting as j = l 1/2
4.2.1 The B-Field due to Orbital Motion
The relativistic eect of an electron moving with velocity v in an electric eld E is to set up a B
eld given by:
B =
v E
c
2
(52)
We re-express this using the momentum p = mv
B =
1
mc
2
p E (53)
In our central eld E is purely radial: Writing E = [E[
r
|r|
then we have
B =
1
mc
2
p r
[E[
[r[
(54)
Now r p = l, angular momentum, so p r = l
B =
1
mc
2
[E[
[r[

l (55)
(We shall put operator signs only on angular momentum operators.)
We can express [E[ in terms of the electrical potential (r)
[E[ =
(r)
r
(56)
and the Central Field potential energy would be
e(r) = U(r) (57)
Then
[E[ =
1
e
U(r)
r
(58)
So nally we have
B =
1
emc
2
1
[r[
U(r)
r

l (59)
NB: U(r) = Potential energy of the electron in the Central Field.
In the rest frame of the electron, this is the eld it experiences as it apparently sees the nucleus
orbiting it at radius r.
19
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 4 Corrections to the Central Field: Spin-Orbit interaction
4.2.2 The Energy Operator
The intrinsic magnetic moment of the electron, due to its spin is

s
= g
s

s (60)
g
s
is the gyro-magnetic ratio for a spinning charge. Relativistic quantum theory (Dirac) gives g
s
= 2,
but QED corrections give a value slightly larger than 2. The energy operator for the spin-orbit
interaction is

s
B = g
s

1
emc
2
1
r
U(r)
r
s

l (61)
For many-electron atoms we dont know exactly what U(r) is. The important thing to note, however,
is that

s
B
1
r
U(r)
r
s

l (62)
This is a positive quantity with a set of values determined by the relative orientation of s and

l. For
a hydrogen-like atom we can put U(r) =
Ze
2
4
0
r
and so:

s
B =

0
4
2Zg
s

2
B
1
r
3
s

3
(63)
This result still isnt quite right. We have not taken account properly of the relativistic transformation
between the rest frames of the electron and the nucleus. We actually observe the electron orbiting
in the rest frame of the nucleus. This is the Thomas Precession (its derivation is not in the syllabus)
and has the eect of dividing the result by a factor 2.
Hence

s
B =

0
4
Zg
s

2
B
1
r
3
s

3
(64)
Our task now is to nd the expectation values of the operators 1/r
3
and s

l.
4.2.3 The Radial Integral
The expectation value of 1/r
3
is given by the integral:
i
[ 1/r
3
[
i
). The position of the electron
doesnt have a denite value. The wave functions
i
are not eigenfunctions of the operator 1/r
3
.
The position r is not a constant of the motion. So we have to evaluate the integral
_
1
r
3
_
=
_

0
R
2
n,l
(r)
1
r
3
r
2
dr (65)
Using hydrogen radial functions we nd:
_
1
r
3
_
=
Z
3
n
3
a
3
0
l(l + 1/2)(l + 1)
(66)
Notice that this gets smaller rapidly with increasing l. So it is wrong to conclude from the < s

l >
bit of the operator that the spin-orbit eect increases with l.
The physics here is that lower l electrons move closer to the inner regions of the central eld. Here
they experience stronger electric elds. Add to this that they get faster as they approach the near
point to the nucleus in their elliptical orbit, then the magnetic interaction increases for lower l. For
l = 0, however, the s

l term is zero and there is no spin-orbit eect at all! So s-terms are not split.
Our result shows that the spin-orbit splitting is larger for high Z, low n and low l (but zero for l = 0!)
20
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 4 Corrections to the Central Field: Spin-Orbit interaction
4.2.4 The Angular Integral: Degenerate Perturbation Theory
We now need to evaluate < s

l >. Can we use our zero-order wave functions

i
(n, l, m
l
, m
s
) to do
this? The answer is, sadly, no. The problem is that these eigenstates are degenerate in m
l
, and m
s
.
Why is that a problem? Recall rst the result of non-degenerate perturbation theory. The rst order
energy shift induced by a perturbation

H

is the expectation value:

E =
i
[

H

[
i
) (67)
If, however, there are degenerate eigenstates, then we can use this result only if

i
[

H

[
j
) = 0 for all j ,= i (68)
i.e. the perturbation matrix is diagonal. To see why this is necessary we need to recall that Pertur-
bation Theory works so long as the state of the atom is not changed too much by the perturbation.
In this case we can use the unperturbed wavefunctions to nd the expectation value of the change
in energy and the small change in the wavefunction. Now recall the change in the wavefunction
is given by:

i
=

j=i

j
[

H

[
i
)
E
i
E
j

j
(69)
All the terms in the sum must be small or else the wavefunctions will be changed too much and
Perturbation Theory will not be valid.
Now if we have degenerate states e.g. for some state
j
, E
i
= E
j
then we have a serious problem!
We have a zero on the bottom line. We could rescue the situation if we could ensure that the
numerator also went to zero i.e

j
[

H

[
i
) = 0 (70)
What we need is a new basis set of eigenfunctions
i
such that
i
[

H

[
j
) = 0 for all i ,= j.
We can make a new basis set using our original zero order solutions of the Schrodinger equation
by forming linear combinations of these functions. However, we need to be careful.
Suppose we have two energy eigenstates
i
and
j
. A linear combination of these is in general not
also an eigenstate). Consider
= a
i
+b
j
(71)
Where a, b are arbitary constants. Then

H
0
= aE
i

i
+bE
j

j
(72)
So

H
0
,= constant (73)
will, however, be an eigenstate of

H
0
, if, and only if, E
i
= E
j
i.e. the states
i
and
j
are
degenerate. This is good news for it means we can form a new basis set of eigenfunctions by taking
linear combinations of our degenerate set
i
(n, l, m
l
, m
s
). Is this a lucky coincidence or is it a
result of some choice we made in nding the zero order solutions? Well, it isnt luck! We made the
arbitrary choice of the z-axis as our axis of reference. If we had chosen another axis we would have
found dierent functions, These dierent functions would have been linear combinations of the set
referred to the z-axis. The lesson from all this is that we need to choose a set of eigenfunctions as
our basis set so that the perturbation will be diagonal. This is why we choose the z-axis and apply
our perturbing elds along this axis.
One nal point; the perturbation matrix needs to be diagonal only within the degenerate set. There
may be other o-diagonal elements but they have an energy denominator (E
i
E
j
) and provided this
is large enough compared to <
j
[

[
i
> these elements wont contribute much to the perturbation.
21
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 4 Corrections to the Central Field: Spin-Orbit interaction
We can summarise this by looking at an example of two degenerate states
1
and
2
.
We can write the perturbation energy as
E
1
=
1
[

H

[
1
) (74)
only if
1
[

H

[
2
) = 0 (75)
However, if
1
[

H

[
2
) , = 0 (76)
then we make new zero order functions
1
and
2
using

1
= a
1
+b
2
(77)

2
= b

1
a

2
(78)
And nd the values of a, b that make

1
[

H

[
2
) = 0 (79)
Then we can write:
E
1
=
1
[

H

[
1
) , E
2
=
2
[

H

[
2
) (80)
4.2.5 Degenerate Perturbation theory and the Vector Model
Finding the right coecients in our linear combination of zero-order eigenfunctions results in a
diagonal matrix. There are mathematical methods for diagonalizing a matrix that can be used.
This procedure, a unitary transformation, is formally equivalent to rotating the axes of our frame
of reference to a new set of axes where there are no cross-terms i.e. the matrix is diagonal in the
new basis. If we want to avoid o-diagonal elements, when we have degenerate states, we need to
choose the right basis or reference frame. We can then nd the expectation values of an operator are
given by its eigenvalues. Degeneracy usually is associated with the angular momentum and we know
the eigenvalues of angular momentum operators. So we can use the symmetry of the situation to
guide us to the proper basis set. These new basis eigenfunctons will be labelled by quantum numbers
associated with an operator corresponding to a constant of the motion.
This leads us to a helpful model; the Vector Model, enabling us to visualise the physics in DPT.
Consider the classical behaviour of a rotating charge in a magnetic eld along the z-axis. The
angular momentum vector is at angle to the z-axis and the Larmor precession causes the vector
to trace out a cone at constant angle to the z-axis. and its projection on z is a constant of the
motion.
The projection on the x or y axis, however is not constant. It therefore makes sense to refer our
motion to the z-axis. The wavefunction can be labelled quantum mechanically by a quantum number
m i.e. the projection of on the z-axis is m. This illustrates the key basis of the Vector Model:
Quantum Mechanics represents a classical constant of the motion by an operator which commutes
with the Hamiltonian. So eigenstates of the Hamiltonian will also be eigenstates of this operator.
Then the expectation values, representing the time average of the classical vector, are given by
the eigenvalues of the operator. The quantum numbers dening the eigenfunctions are then good
quantum numbers. In the example case just described, the vector could represent the total angular
momentum j. Quantum mechanically we can know both

j
2
and

j
z
, with eigenvalues j(j +1) and m
j
respectively, and j and m
j
are good quantum numbers.
22
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 4 Corrections to the Central Field: Spin-Orbit interaction
4.2.6 Evaluation of
_
s

l
_
using DPT and the Vector Model
We now return to nding the expectation value of the operator
_
s

l
_
. We start with the zero order
solutions to the Schrodinger equation, (n, l, m
l
). Including the spin, quantum numbers s, m
s
, our
basis states are:
[n, l, m
l
, s, m
s
) (81)
We nd that
n, l, m
l
, s, m
s
[ s

l [n, l, m
l
, s, m
s
) , = 0 for all m
l
,= m

l
, m
s
,= m

s
(82)
This means that these states are not suitable for evaluating the perturbation.
As explained above, we need to nd linear combinations of the degenerate functions which will
give a diagonal matrix. We choose linear combinations that produce eigenstates of the total angular
momentum operators

j
2
and

j
z
where

j =

l + s. These will also be eigenstates and

l
2
and s
2

j
2
=
_

l + s
_
2
;

j
z
=

l
z
+ s
z
(83)
Then
s

l =
1
2
_

j
2

l
2
s
2
_
(84)
And the eigenstates are [n, l, s, j, m
j
).
We then nd that the o-diagonal elements
n, l, s, j, m
j
[ s

l [n, l, s, j, m
j
) = 0 unless j = j

and m
j
= m

j
(85)
The diagonal elements (eigenvalues) are then
n, l, s, j, m
j
[ s

l [n, l, s, j, m
j
) =
1
2
j(j + 1) l(l + 1) s(s + 1)
2
(86)
This is the result we need; the new basis set using quantum numbers j, m
j
provides a perturbation
matrix that is diagonal. We have dealt with the problem of the degenerate states. Remember that
the problem arose from our choice of the z-axis. In the presence of spin-orbit interaction m
l
, m
s
were
not good quantum numbers. In other words the projections of

l and s on our arbitrary z-axis were
not constants of the motion. We can visualise this using our vector model.
We represent the angular momentum by vectors of magnitude given by [

l[, [ s[, [

j[.
When there is no spin-orbit interaction

l and s take up xed orientations in space. Their projections
on the z-axis are m
l
and m
s
which are constant. When spin-orbit interaction takes place

l and
s precess around their mutual resultant

j. Their projections on the z-axis, are no longer constant,
m
l
, m
s
are undened and no longer good quantum numbers.
Now since there is no external torque the total angular momentum

j is a constant of the motion.
The projection of

j on the z-axis,

j
z
is also a constant, and quantized in multiples of as m
j
. the
operators corresponding to these vectors (angular momenta) are:

j =

l + s (87)
j takes values from [l s[ to [l +s[.
Also

j
2
=
_

l + s
_
2
(88)
with eigenvalues j(j + 1) and

j
z
=

l
z
+ s
z
(89)
23
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 4 Corrections to the Central Field: Spin-Orbit interaction
Figure 12: (a) Orbital l and spin s angular momenta add (couple) to give a resultant j. With no
magnetic interaction the vectors remain xed in space. (b) Spin-orbit coupling results in
precessional motion of l and s around their resultant j. (c) and (d) Projections of l and s
on z-axis, l
z
and s
z
respectively, are no longer constants of the motion and hence m
l
and
m
s
are not good quantum numbers in the presence of spin-orbit coupling
with eigenvalue m
j
.
For a single electron s = 1/2 so we have two values of j = l 1/2.
The key is to choose the basis to suit the perturbation. For example, if there was no spin-orbit
interaction and we apply an external B-eld, then [n, l, s, m
l
, m
s
) is a suitable basis. The vectors

l
and s will precess independently around the B-eld direction (z-axis). The projections m
l
and m
s

respectively are constants of the motion so m

l
, m
s
are good quantum numbers.
If we have both spin-orbit interaction and an external eld and the interactions are of comparable
strength, then the vector model doesnt help. In this case

l and s will precess around B
ext
at about
the same angular speed as they precess around their mutual resultant

j. The motion becomes very
complicated and neither m
l
, m
s
nor j and m
j
are good quantum numbers.
The vector model works so long as one perturbation is much stronger than the other.
If the external eld is weak,

l and s couple together to form

j i.e they precess rapidly around

j.
The interaction with B
ext
causes

j to precess relatively slowly around B
ext
with a constant projection
on the eld axis given by m
j
.
If the external eld is very strong then

l and s precess independently around B
ext
with projections
m
l
and m
s
. Because of their rapid precession around B
ext
,

l and s do not combine to form a constant

j. The spin-orbit interaction energy, in this case, can be found using the states [n, l, s, m
l
, m
s
) because
the stronger interaction with B
ext
has removed (raised) the degeneracy.
24
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 4 Corrections to the Central Field: Spin-Orbit interaction
4.3 Spin Orbit Interaction: Summary
The perturbation,

H
2

1
r
U(r)
r
s

l (90)
The change to the energy of the states is then:
E
SO
= [

H
2
[) (91)
The radial integral, gives a factor
nl
The angular momentum integral =
_

j
2

l
2
s
2
_
We choose a basis set of eigenfunctions to diagonalize this perturbation: [n, l, s, j, m
j
)
Hence
E
SO
=
nl
1
2
j(j + 1) l(l + 1) s(s + 1) (92)
Where for hydrogen

n,l
=

0
Z
4
g
s

2
b
4
1
n
3
a
3
0
l(l + 1/2)(l + 1)
(93)
For a single-electron atom, e.g. alkalis, j has two values. j = l 1/2. Thus the energy levels are
split, each value of j has a dierent E
SO
.
We now look at this eect in alkali atoms as an example.
4.4 Spin-Orbit Splitting: Alkali Atoms
We consider the case of sodium, an atom with one electron outside a Central Field. The ground
state has n = 3, l = 0. There is therefore no spin-orbit splitting of this level, since the electron has
no orbital motion. For the rst excited state, n = 3, l = 1. If there was no spin-orbit interaction we
could use eigenfunctions
[n, l, s, m
l
, m
s
) = [3, 1, 1/2, m
l
, m
s
) (94)
where m
l
= +1, 0, 1 and m
s
= +1/2, 1/2 i.e. we have 6 degenerate states. When we include the
spin-orbit interaction we use the basis [n, l, s, j, m
j
), where j = 1/2 or 3/2 so the energy level is split
into two.
For j = 1/2, m
j
= +1/2, 1/2, i.e. two degenerate states and
for j = 3/2, m
j
= 3/2, 1/2, 1/2, 3/2 i.e. four degenerate states.
Each level is shifted by
E
SO
(3p) =
3p
(1), j = 1/2 (95)
E
SO
(3p) =
3p
(+1/2), j = 3/2 (96)
Note that the centre of gravity of the level remains the same. The product of the degeneracy
(2j +1) i.e. number of states times the shift is the same for each of the shifted levels. This result is a
consequence of the fact that magnetic interactions have no overall eect on the energy of the atom,
since the magnetic forces do no work. For n = 3, l = 2, a 3d state we have
E
SO
(3d) =
3d
(1), j = 5/2 (97)
E
SO
(3d) =
3d
(3/2), j = 3/2 (98)
25
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 4 Corrections to the Central Field: Spin-Orbit interaction
nos.o.
effect
j=3/2(4states)
j=1/2(2states)
b/2
b
Figure 13: Diagram showing energy splitting of 3p level in an alkali.
nos.o.
effect
j=5/2(6states)
j=3/2(4states)
3 /2 b
b
Figure 14: Diagram showing energy splitting of 3d level in an alkali.
Note that
3p
>
3d
since the 3p electron penetrates the inner core of electrons far more than the
3d electron.
The actual size of the splitting is set by the value of the radial integral (n, l). For hydrogen we
noted this was

n,l
=

0
Z
4
g
s

2
B
4
1
n
3
a
3
0
l(l + 1/2)(l + 1)
(99)
This applies to hydrogen-like atoms i.e. ions with all electrons except one stripped o. For a neutral
atom, however, the electrostatic force of the central eld will be less and so the dependence on Z
is reduced from the Z
4
in a hydrogenic ion. We can get an approximate idea of the Z-dependence
by considering the Z
e
in our Central Field to be a step function i.e. to change abruptly from its
eective value Z
o
(o for outer) outside the core to Z
in
(in for inner) inside the core. This is a
very crude approximation, and we can make it even more crude by supposing Z
o
= 1 (total screening
by (Z 1) electrons) and Z
in
= Z (no screening at all).
The total energy of the spin-orbit interaction will be made up of two parts, each with the form:
E
SO
Z
_
1
r
3
_
(100)
The outer part, Z = 1, is very small compared to the contribution from the inner part, Z >> 1, so
we neglect the contribution from the Z
o
bit. The inner part is hydrogenic so:
_
Z
r
3
_
inner
=
Z
4
n
3
a
3
0
l(l + 1/2)(l + 1)
(101)
The contribution will be weighted by the fraction of the time the electron spends inside the core.
This fraction is indicated by the quantum defect or by the eective quantum number n

. Using the
Bohr theory we can show that the fraction inside the core is
_
n
3
Z
2
in
_
/
_
n
3
Z
2
o
_
(102)
So the contribution from the inner part becomes:
_
Z
in
r
3
_
inner

n
3
Z
2
o
n
3
Z
2
in
(103)
26
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 4 Corrections to the Central Field: Spin-Orbit interaction
Hence

n,l


0
4
g
s

2
B
Z
2
in
Z
2
o
n
3
a
3
0
l(l + 1/2)(l + 1)
(104)
So approximately, the size of the spin-orbit splitting scales with Z
2
in
Z
2
.
We now need to consider atoms other than alkalis, where residual electrostatic interaction, cant
be ignored. Before we do that we dene a way of indicating the total angular momentum of atoms
as a whole, and not just individual electrons with l, s, j, m
l
, m
s
, m
j
, etc.
4.5 Spectroscopic Notation
So far we have seen how the physical interactions aecting the energy of an atom can be ordered
according to their strength. We use perturbation theory, or the Vector Model, by starting with the
largest interaction the Coulomb force of the Central Field. This led to the idea of the electron
conguration; n
1
l
1
n
2
l
2
n
3
l
3
etc. with each individual electrons angular momentum labelled by a
lower case letter; s, p, d, f, etc. For single-electron atoms, like alkalis, we dened a total angular
momentum

j =

l + s. The spin-orbit interaction led to energy levels labelled by their value of j,
i.e. (l + 1/2) or (l 1/2). What do we do when there is more than one electron to worry about?
We anticipate the result of the next section where we consider the residual electrostatic interaction
between electrons.
If we were to ignore any spin-orbit interaction then the energy levels are completely determined
by electrostatic forces only. In this case the space and spin systems within the atom must separately
conserve angular momentum. This suggests that we can dene a total orbital angular momentum
by the vector sum of the individual orbital momenta. We will label such total angular momenta by
capital letters; thus the total orbital angular momentum is:
L =

i
l
i
(105)
For simplicity we will consider two-electron atoms i.e. atoms with two valence electrons outside
closed inner shells. So L = l
1
+l
2
. In the same way we dene the total spin of the atom to be
S =

i
s
i
= s
1
+s
2
(106)
These can be visualized using our vector model:
l
2
L
l
1
S
s
2
s
1
Figure 15: Diagram showing the coupling of all l
i
to L and all s
i
to S.
Quantum mechanically these angular momenta are represented by operators

L
2
and

L
z
L
2
=
_

l
1
+

l
2
_
2
(107)
27
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 4 Corrections to the Central Field: Spin-Orbit interaction
With eigenvalues L(L + 1)
2
where [l
1
l
2
[ L l
1
+l
2
, and
L
z
=

l
z1
+

l
z2
(108)
With eigenvalues M
L
where L M
L
L.
Similarly we have total spin operators.
S
2
= ( s
1
+ s
2
)
2
(109)
With eigenvalues S(S + 1)
2
where [s
1
s
2
[ S s
1
+s
2
, and
S
z
= s
z1
+ s
z2
(110)
With eigenvalues M
S
where S M
S
S.
M
L
and M
S
are the quantized projections of L and S respectively on the z-axis (the axis of
quantization). The total angular momentum is found by adding (or coupling) the total orbital and
spin momenta: to give J:

J
2
=
_

L +

S
_
2
(111)
With eigenvalues J(J + 1)
2
and
[L S[ J L +S (112)
Also:

J
z
=

L
z
+

S
z
(113)
With eigenvalues M
J
where J M
J
J i.e. M
J
is the projection of

J on the quantization axis.
By convention L = 0, 1, 2, 3 is labelled S, P, D, F etc as with the s, p, d, f for single electrons. The
values of L and S specify a Term. The spin-orbit interaction between

L and

S will split each term
into levels labelled by J. For a given

L there will be (2S + 1) values of J and so (2S + 1) is known
as the multiplicity
Spin-orbit interaction will split each term into levels according to its value of J. Thus the multi-
plicity tells us the number of separate energy levels (i.e. number of J values) except, however when
L = 0, when there is no spin-orbit splitting and there is only a single level.
Each level is degenerate in J; there are (2J+1) values of M
J
; the projection of

J on an external axis.
Each value of M
J
between J and +J constitutes a state, and the degeneracy is raised by applying
an external magnetic eld in which the dierent orientations of

J relative to the eld direction will
have dierent energy.
In general then we have the following notation for an energy level:
n
1
l
1
n
2
l
2
...
2S+1
L
J
(114)
This reects the hierarchy of interactions:
Central Field conguration, n
1
l
1
n
2
l
2
. . .
Residual Electrostatic Terms, L = S, P, D. . .
Spin-Orbit Level, J = [L S[ L +S
External Field State, M
J
= J +J
The ground level of sodium can therefore be written as 1s
2
2s
2
2p
6
3s
2
S
1/2
.
It is common practice to drop the conguration of the inner shells and give only that for the outer,
valence, electrons. Thus the rst two excited levels are 3p
2
P
1/2,3/2
and 3d
2
D
3/2,5/2
. these are
sometimes referred to as excited states, but this is an example of the loose terminology used by
Atomic Physicists!
We can now draw a full Energy Level diagram for sodium with all the levels labelled by appropriate
quantum numbers.
28
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 4 Corrections to the Central Field: Spin-Orbit interaction
Hydrogen
n
4
3
Figure 16: Na energy level diagram showing ne structure (spin-orbit splitting) greatly exaggerated.
Note that the dierence between energy levels the same n but of increasing l become
smaller as they approach the hydrogenic energy level for the corresponding n. Note also
that the dierence between energy levels of the same n but dierent l becomes smaller
with increasing n.
29
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 5 Two-electron Atoms: Residual Electrostatic Eects and LS-Coupling
5 Two-electron Atoms: Residual Electrostatic Eects and LS-Coupling
So far we have made the Central Field Approximation which allows us to estimate the gross structure
of the energy levels. This introduced quantum numbers n and l allowing us to dene the electron
conguration. We noted two perturbations that need to be considered in going beyond the Central
Field Approximation. These were,

H
1
, the residual electrostatic interaction and

H
2
, the spin-orbit
interaction. Perturbation theory requires that we apply the larger perturbation rst. In the specic
case of a one-electron atom in a Central Field we could ignore

H
1
. The perturbation due to spin-
orbit eects then led us to wave functions labelled by the quantum numbers j, m
j
. In the case of
an atom with two electrons in a Central Field we have to consider rst

H
1
, and this will lead us to
dierent quantum numbers. We have anticipated this result by introducing these quantum numbers
L, S and J. In the following sections we will look more closely at the physics of how electrostatic
interactions lead to LS-coupling. It needs to be stressed at the outset that LS-coupling is the most
appropriate description when electrostatic eects are the dominant perturbation. We can then apply
the smaller spin-orbit perturbation

H
2
to these LSJ-labelled states.
All this is conveniently visualized using the Vector Model, where the strongest interactions lead
to the fastest precessional motions. The residual electrostatic perturbation

H
1
causes the individual
orbital angular momenta l
1
and l
2
to couple to form L = l
1
+l
2
. Similarly the spin angular momenta
s
1
and s
2
couple to give a total spin S = s
1
+ s
2
. So l
1
and l
2
precess rapidly around L and s
1
and
s
2
precess rapidly around S. L and S are then well-dened constants of the motion.
The weaker, spin-orbit interaction

H
2
then leads to a slower precession of L and S around their
resultant J. As in the single electron case, the precession rate and hence the energy shift depends
on the relative orientation of L and S. The result is a ne-structure splitting of the terms dened by
L and S according to the value of J.
We have been assuming that

H
1
>>

H
2
but this may not always be the case. We have seen already
that

H
2
increases with Z
2
. So our assumption that electrostatic dominates over magnetic, spin-orbit,
coupling will become less valid for heavy elements. When this happens L and S cease to be good
quantum numbers. The total angular momentum J will continue to be a good quantum number,
but it will be a result of adding the angular momenta of the individual electrons in a dierent way.
In the limit that

H
2
>>

H
1
, individual electron momenta l
i
and s
i
couple to give j
i
= l
i
+ s
i
. The
total J is then the vector sum of j
1
and j
2
. This jj-coupling is, however, not on the syllabus.
In the following we will take Magnesium as our example of a two-electron atom. We will look rst
at the gross energy level structure arising from the Central Field Approximation. Secondly, we will
consider the residual electrostatic eect (perturbation

H
1
) which splits the energy levels into terms
labelled by L and S. We will think about why these terms have dierent energies. Thirdly, we apply
the smaller

H
2
, spin-orbit, perturbation and examine the resulting ne-structure splitting.
5.1 Magnesium: Gross Structure
We choose Mg as our typical two-electron atom rather than Helium because, in the Helium case,
the spin-spin interaction is of comparable magnitude to the other perturbations. In heavier elements
this is less so. We can, however, use the basic results found for Helium to help us understand
the behaviour of our two valence electrons in Magnesium. Magnesium is basically sodium with an
extra proton in the nucleus and an extra electron outside. The conguration of the ground energy
level is 1s
2
2s
2
2p
6
3s
2
. If we restrict ourselves to exciting only one of the 3s electrons, the excited
congurations will be ( )3snl. The electron remaining in the 3s orbit acts as a spectator electron
and so the excited electron moves in a Central Field not much dierent from that of sodium. The
basic energy level structure will be roughly the same as sodium, but the energy levels will be more
negative owing to the increased Coulomb attraction of the nucleus.
What will be the eect of the perturbations

H
1
and

H
2
?
30
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 5 Two-electron Atoms: Residual Electrostatic Eects and LS-Coupling
5.2 The Electrostatic Perturbation
We will eliminate

H
2
for the moment by considering the conguration 3s4s; allowing us to concentrate
on the eects arising from there being two electrons with electrostatic repulsion between them. It
may seem, at rst sight, that we could deal with this conguration entirely within the Central Field
Approximation. After all, the spectator, 3s, electron is a spherically symmetric charge and so also
is the 4s electron. Could their mutual interaction not be contained within the Central Field? The
answer is no because the elds the two electrons see is not the same.
So we will have a left-over perturbation

H
1
and it doesnt have to be non-central.
In the Central Field Approximation we can nd wave functions for each electron in our 3s4s
conguration; (3s) and (4s). What will be the wavefunction for the system as a whole? We could
form a product wavefunction
1
(3s)
2
(4s). Such a wavefunction implies we can identify individual
electrons by the subscripts 1 and 2. The particles, are for the moment, distinguishable. Now, can we
use this wave function to nd our perturbation energy due to

H
1
, denoted by E
1
?
In other words, is E
1
=
1
(3s)
2
(4s)[

H
1
[
1
(3s)
2
(4s)) ?
It is fairly obvious that if we swapped the labels 1 and 2 we would get the same energy. So the states:
[
1
(3s)
2
(4s)) and [
2
(3s)
1
(4s)) are degenerate. We therefore have to use Degenerate Perturbation
Theory. This means we have to nd correct linear combinations of our zero-order wavefunctions. The
correct linear combination wave function will diagonalize the perturbation matrix. So we can use the
form of the perturbation to guide us to the correct combination

H
1
=

i
Ze
2
4
0
r
i
+

i>j
e
2
4
0
r
ij

i
U(r
i
) (115)
Since our zero order wavefunctions are eigenfunctions of U(r
i
), the third term will not give us any
trouble. The rst term is also a single-electron operator so this will not cause a problem either. We
are left with the 1/r
ij
operator and need to nd a wavefunction that will give a diagonal matrix.
We can form two orthogonal functions as follows:-

1
= a
1
(3s)
2
(4s) +b
1
(4s)
2
(3s) (116)

2
= b

1
(3s)
2
(4s) a

1
(4s)
2
(3s) (117)
It remains to nd a and b to make the diagonal matrix elements vanish i.e.

1
[ V [
2
) = 0 (118)
Where V is the two-electron electrostatic repulsion. This perturbation does not distinguish electron
1 from electron 2, so [a[ = [b[ and for normalization [a[, [b[ = 1/

2. We now have

1
=
1

2
(
1
(3s)
2
(4s) +
1
(4s)
2
(3s)) (119)

2
=
1

2
(
1
(3s)
2
(4s)
1
(4s)
2
(3s)) (120)
We note now that interchanging the labels does not change
1
, and simply changes the sign of
2
.
These functions have a denite exchange symmetry. We shall return to this later.
The o-diagonal matrix element is now:
1
2

1
(3s)
2
(4s) +
1
(4s)
2
(3s)[ V [
1
(3s)
2
(4s)
1
(4s)
2
(3s)) (121)
1 2 3 4
31
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 5 Two-electron Atoms: Residual Electrostatic Eects and LS-Coupling
Multiplying out the terms in the integral we nd:
1 3 =
1
(3s)
2
(4s)[ V [
1
(3s)
2
(4s)) = J (122)
2 4 =
1
(4s)
2
(3s)[ V [
1
(4s)
2
(3s)) = J (123)
2 3 =
1
(4s)
2
(3s)[ V [
1
(3s)
2
(4s)) = K (124)
1 4 =
1
(3s)
2
(4s)[ V [
1
(4s)
2
(3s)) = K (125)
So the total element is zero as required!
The diagonal elements now give us our energy eigenvalues for the change in energy:-

1
[ V [
1
) = E
1
= J + K (126)

2
[ V [
2
) = E
2
= J K (127)
J is known as the direct integral and K is the exchange integral. (The wavefunctions in K dier by
exchange of the electron label).
Energylevelwithno
electrostaticinteraction
J
+K
-K
Singlet
Triplet
Figure 17: The eect of residual electrostatic interaction is to shift the mean energy by the direct
integral J and to split the singlet and triplet terms by the exchange integral 2K
So the energy of any particular conguration will be split by an amount 2K. This corresponds
to the two energies associated with the normal modes of coupled oscillators. For example, two
pendula, or two masses on springs, when coupled together will settle into correlated or anti-correlated
motions with dierent energies. Note that for our 2-electrons the eect arises purely because of the
mutual electrostatic interaction. Note also that this has nothing to do with the distinguishability or
indistinguishability of the electrons!
Our result shows that the term of the conguration described by
1
, the symmetric state, has a
higher (less negative) energy than the anti-symmetric state
2
. To understand why we need to think
a bit more about symmetry and the physics of the interactions between the electrons.
5.3 Symmetry
Degenerate Perturbation Theory forced us to choose spatial wavefunctions that have a dene sym-
metry; either symmetric or antisymmetric. Why? It was because interchanging the labels on the
operator could make no physical dierence to the result,
1
r
12
=
1
r
21
. This must always be the case
when we are dealing with identical particles. They must always be in a sate of denite symmetry;
either symmetric, (+), or antisymmetric, (-). All electrons in our universe are antisymmetric, so
we need to combine our spatial wavefunctions with an appropriate spin wavefunction to ensure our
overall antisymmetric state.
32
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 5 Two-electron Atoms: Residual Electrostatic Eects and LS-Coupling
Each electron spin may be up or down . We can therefore construct for two electrons combina-
tions that are either symmetric or antisymmetric:

2
,
1

2
,
1

2
+
1

2
: Symmetric (128)
1

2

1

2
: Antisymmetric (129)
The three symmetric spin states form a triplet and combine with the antisymmetric space states,

2
. This triplet term energy was found to be shifted down i.e. more strongly bound. Physically,
this is because the antisymmetric space function describes a state where the electrons avoid the same
region of space. The mutual repulsion from the e
2
/r
12
potential is therefore reduced and the electrons
are held more strongly. The antisymmetric state, on the other hand, is a singlet state. Since the
electrons have opposite spins, equivalent to dierent spin quantum numbers, they can occupy the
same space without violating the Pauli Principle. Increased overlap in space increases the eect of
the 1/r
12
repulsion, throwing the electrons further out in the Central Field. This results in a lower
binding energy. The singlet terms thus lie above the triplet term for a given conguration.
5.4 Orbital eects on electrostatic interaction in LS-coupling
We have spent a long time considering the eect of the spin on the energy levels of the LS-coupled
states. There is, however, another aspect of the electrostatic interaction that we have overlooked;
the way the energy depends on L. The Central Field Approximation takes account of the spherically
averaged charge distribution. The value of L for a given conguration depends on the relative
orientation of the individual angular momenta l
1
and l
2
. If either of these is zero e.g. 3s then the
spatial overlap with the other electron in, say, a 3p orbit will be the same no matter where the axis of
the 3p orbit points. Consider, however, what happens if both electrons are in p-orbits say 3p4p. Now
L = l
1
+l
2
= 2, 1 or 0 i.e. D, P or S Terms. The Vector Model shows that the axes of the individual
orbital angular momenta are xed in one of the three spatial orientations to give quantized values
of L. The electron wavefunctions, and probability densities, are like doughnut shapes. The dierent
relative orientations of their axes will lead to dierent spatial overlaps of the electrons. Consequently,
the amount of mutual repulsion will be dierent in each case. This helps explain why the electrostatic
interaction leads to terms of dierent energy and are labelled by L and S.
l
1
ol
2
Figure 18: Electron orbitals l
1
, l
2
have an overlap depending on their relative orientation and so
dierent vector sums have dierent electrostatic energy.
33
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 5 Two-electron Atoms: Residual Electrostatic Eects and LS-Coupling
5.5 Spin-Orbit Eects in 2-electron Atoms
So far we have applied only the electrostatic perturbation

H
1
to the congurations set by the Central
Field. This electrostatic interaction led to singlet and triplet terms labelled by L and S. The 3s4s
conguration in Mg will have to terms;
1
S and
3
S, with
1
S lying above
3
S in the energy level diagram.
Since there is no orbital motion there is no spin-orbit interaction. The total angular momentum
J = L +S = 0 or 1. The complete designations are therefore
3s4s
1
S
0
and 3s4s
3
S
1
Although the multiplicity, 2S + 1, is 3 in the triplet state, there is only one energy level since J has
only the value 1, in this case.
Lets now consider the conguration 3s3p. Again S = 0 or 1 and we have singlet and triplet terms.
L = 1, so the terms are
1
P and
3
P. J, however, in the triplet term has values 2, 1, 0. These three
values arise from each of three relative orientations of L and S. This is clear in our Vector Model:
L =1
S=1
S=1
S=1
L =1 L =1
J=2J=1J=0
Figure 19: Vector addition of L and S to give total angular momentum J.
The magnetic interactions between the total spin moment and the magnetic eld established by
the total orbital moment, L, are dierent in each case leading to dierent energies for the levels of
each J value. The triplet,
3
P, term is therefore split and acquires ne-structure.
The physical arguments we used for spin-orbit interaction in Na carry over to the Mg case by using
the total angular momentum operators

L,

S and

J instead of

l, s and

j. The perturbation to the
[n, L, S, J) states is:
E
SO
=
_

H
2
_

__
1
r
U(r)
r
_

S

L
_
(130)
The radial integral is denoted
n,l
. The angular momentum operator is:

S

L =
1
2
_

J
2

L
2

S
2
_
(131)
and, since we have the correct representation in eigenfunctions of the operators on the R.H.S. we
nd the expectation value is given by the corresponding eigenvalues:
_

J
2

L
2

S
2
_
=
1
2
J(J + 1) L(L + 1) S(S + 1) (132)
so
E
J
=

n,L
2
J(J + 1) L(L + 1) S(S + 1) (133)
The separation of the ne-structure levels is found by evaluating E
J
for J

and J

1.
E
J
E
J

1
=
n,l
J

(134)
This represents an Interval Rule that is valid so long as two conditions are fullled:
(1) LS-coupling is a good description for the terms i.e. when the electrostatic perturbation

H
1
>>

H
2
, the magnetic, spin-orbit interaction.
34
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 5 Two-electron Atoms: Residual Electrostatic Eects and LS-Coupling
(2) the perturbation energy is expressible as
_

S

L
_
. This is not the case in Helium where spin-spin
interactions are comparable to spin-orbit eects.
The energy levels of the 3s3p terms are therefore
2K
3s3p P
1
1
3s3p P
3
2
3s3p P
3
1
3s3p P
3
0
ib
2b
Figure 20: Separation of singlet and triplet terms due to electrostatic interaction and splitting of
triplet term by magnetic spin-orbit interaction.
As we go to atoms with higher Z, the magnetic, spin-orbit, interaction increases ( Z
2
) and begins
to be comparable to the electrostatic eect. LS-coupling starts to break down and will be shown by
two features of the energy levels: (a) The separation of the triplet levels becomes comparable to the
separation of singlet and triplet terms of the same conguration. (b) The interval rule is no longer
obeyed.
A third indicator of the breakdown of LS-coupling is the occurrence of optical transitions between
single and triplet states.
In the LS-coupling scheme the spin states are well-dened and the dipole operator, e r, does not
act on the spin part of the wave function. Thus a dipole transition will link only states with the
same value of S. i.e. we have the selection rule S = 0. This rule is well obeyed in Mg and the
lighter 2-electron atoms. So we get transitions only between singlet and singlet states, or between
triplet and triplet. It is then common to separate out the singlet ad triplet energy levels into separate
diagrams.
1 1 1 3 3 3
S P D S P D
o 2 1
3s S
2 1
0
3s3p P
1
1
3s3p P
3
2,1,0
3s3d D
1
2
4s
5s
ns
3p
2
3pnl
intercombinationline
(weak)
resonanceline
(strong)
TermdiagramofMagnesium
Singletterms Tripletterms
Figure 21: Mg term diagram. The separation of singlet and triplet terms shows schematically that
singlet-triplet transitions are forbidden.
35
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 5 Two-electron Atoms: Residual Electrostatic Eects and LS-Coupling
The 3s3p
3
P
2,1,0
levels are metastable i.e. they have a long lifetime against radiative decay. The
6s6p
3
P
2,1,0
levels in Mercury are also metastable but a transition 6s6p
3
P
1
6s
2 1
S
0
does occur.
Such a transition is known spectroscopically as an intercombination line. The probability is not
large, compared to other allowed transitions, but this transition is a strong source of radiation from
excited mercury. This is because any atoms ending up in the 6s6p
3
P
1
level have no other way to
decay radiatively. This line is the source of light in Hg uorescent lamps.
36
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 6 Nuclear Eects on Atomic Structure
6 Nuclear Eects on Atomic Structure
We have secretly made three assumptions about the nucleus so far. We have assumed that the
nucleus is stationary, has innite mass and occupies only a point in space. In fact, the nuclei of all
atoms consist of spinning charged objects and so they have a resultant magnetic moment. Secondly,
their mass is not innite, so the nucleus will move with the orbiting electrons around their common
centre of gravity. Thirdly the nucleus has a nite size with some shape over which the proton charge
is distributed. Each of these eects will make a small change in the energy levels. The magnetic
interaction will lead to an eect similar to spin-orbit coupling and give a splitting of the energy levels
know as hyperne structure, hfs. The kinetic energy of the moving nucleus will aect the overall
energy of the atomic states. Finally, the size and shape of the charges on the nucleus will aect
the Coulomb force on the electrons and hence aect the energy. The term hyperne structure is
reserved (at least in Oxford) for magnetic eects of the nuclear spin. The mass and electron eld
eects will be termed isotope eects, since they depend to some extent on the number of neutrons
in a given atom.
6.1 Hyperne Structure
Both the protons and the neutrons have magnetic moments due to their spin. The total nuclear spin
is labelled I. Spinning fermions tend to pair up with another similar particle with a spin in the
opposite direction. For this reason nucleii with even numbers of protons and neutrons, the so-called
even-even nuclei have I = 0. Odd-odd or odd-even nuclei can have integer or half-integer spin:
I = 1/2, 1, 3/2 etc. These nuclei will have a magnetic dipole moment
I
. Nucleii with integer spins
can also have an electric quadruple moment as well. We will be concerned only with the magnetic
dipole moment. Nuclear magnetic moments are small compared with electronic moments. Recall the
classical relationship between magnetic moment and angular moment :
= (135)
In Quantum Mechanics the spin and orbital moments are:-

s
= g
s

B
s (136)

l
= g
l

B
l (137)
where g
s
= 2 and g
l
= 1 (Note we have used s, l in units of ) Now
B
=
e
2m
e
, where m
e
= mass of
the electron. So nuclear moments are going to be much smaller as the nuclear mass m
N
>> m
e
. So
to keep the g-factor of the order of unity we dene the nuclear moment by

I
= g
I

I
I (138)
where g
I
is the nuclear g-factor (1) and
N
is the nuclear magneton, related to
B
by the ratio of
electron to proton mass:

N
=
B

m
e
m
p
(139)
The positive sign on our denition of
I
is purely a convention; we cannot tell in general whether
the magnetic moment will be parallel or antiparallel to I, it can be either.
The magnetic moments of the electrons and the nucleus will precess around their mutual resultant.
The important thing to note is that the smallness of
I
will mean the interaction with the magnetic
eld of the electrons will be weak. The precession rate will therefore be slow and angular momenta I
and J will remain well-dened. The interaction can therefore also be treated by perturbation theory
and the Vector Model. The perturbation can be expressed:

H
3
=
I


B
el
(140)
37
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 6 Nuclear Eects on Atomic Structure
It remains to nd the expectation value of this operator, and we will use our vector model to nd
the answer in terms of the time averaged vector quantities.
6.2 The Magnetic Field of Electrons
The nuclear interaction, being weak, will not follow the motions of individual electron orbits or spins.
Their precessions around J are too fast for the nuclei to follow. The nuclear moment will therefore
eectively see only the time averaged component resolved along J.
B
el
= (scalar quantity) J (141)
The electrons in closed shells make no net contribution to the eld B
el
. Therefore only the electrons
outside the closed shells contribute. Electrons having l ,= 0 will have a magnetic eld at the nucleus
due to both orbital and spin motions. Both of these however depend on r
3
and so will be small
enough to ignore for most cases. For l = 0, s-electrons, however, the situation is dierent. As we
noted before, these electrons have (r) ,= 0 at r = 0. The spin-spin interaction with the nucleus can
therefore be strong. This is known as the Fermi contact interaction. This short range interaction
dominates the contribution to the energy. In general it is very dicult to calculate but for the case
of hydrogen in its ground state an analytical result can be found.
In general the orbital and spin momenta of the electrons provide a eld of order

0
4

1
r
3
_
.
Taking a Bohr radius to give the order of magnitude of r we nd:
B
el


0
4

B
a
3
0
6T (142)
Putting this with a nuclear momenta of the order of
N

B
/2000 we nd an energy perturbation
E 50 MHz. So a transition involving a level with hfs will be split by this order of magnitude in
frequency. Since the eect scales with Z it will get up to 100 times larger in heavy atoms i.e. a
few GHz. The structure of the splitting will depend on the angular momentum coupling, and to this
we now turn.
6.3 Coupling of I and J
Since the nuclear spin magnetic moment is proportional to I and the electron magnetic eld is
proportional to J we can write

H
3
= A
J
I J and E = A
J
_

I

J
_
(143)
The quantity A
J
determines the size of the interaction energy. Note that it depends on other factors
as well as J. For example we could have J = 1/2 from either a single s-electron or a single p-electron.
The former will give a much larger value of A
J
. The factor I J is dimensionless and will have
dierent values depending on the angle between I and J. We can use our Vector Model to nd the
result of a DPT calculation as follows:
I and J couple i.e. add vectorally to give a resultant F:
F = I +J (144)
From the vector triangle we nd
F
2
= I
2
+J
2
+ 2I J (145)
I J =
1
2
_
F
2
I
2
J
2
_
(146)
38
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 6 Nuclear Eects on Atomic Structure
F
I
J
F
I
J
I
J F
Figure 22: Addition of nuclear spin I and total electronic angular momentum J to give F.
The magnitudes of the squared angular momenta are given by their eigenvalues:
E =
A
J
2
F(F + 1) I(I + 1) J(J + 1) (147)
As with spin-orbit coupling this leads to an interval rule:
E
F
= E(F

) E(F

1) A
J
F

(148)
(This provides one way of nding F and so if we know J we can nd I, the nuclear spin.)
The interval rule can be messed up if there are additional contributions to the nuclear spin moment
such as an electric quadruple moment.
The number of levels into which the hfs interaction splits a level depends on the number of values
of F. This, in turn, depends on the coupling of I and J. Our vector model gives us a triangle rule
whereby the vector addition must yield a quantized value of the total angular momentum F.
So if J > I then there are 2I + 1 values of F, and if I > J there are 2J + 1 values.
The values of F will be integers in the range: [I J[ F I + J. The ordering of the levels i.e.
whether E(F) > E(F 1) or vice-versa depends on the sign of A
J
. There is, in general, no way to
calculate this easily. It depends on nuclear structure, which determines the sign of g
I
, and on the
direction of B
el
relative to J. (for single unpaired s-electron B
el
is always antiparallel to J).
6.4 Finding the Nuclear Spin, I
The nuclear spin I can be found by examining, with high resolution, the structure of a spectral line
due to a transition for a level with no, or unresolved, hfs to a hfs-split level. The selection rules of
such transitions turn out to be:
F = 0, 1 but not 0 0 (149)
There are then three methods that can be used, provided there is sucient spectral resolution.
Interval rule The level separation, found from the frequency intervals between components of the
hfs, is proportional to the F-value of the higher level. This allows us to nd F and then, if we know
J for the level, we can nd I.
Number of spectral lines The number of spectral components will give the number of levels of hfs.
The number of levels is (2I +1) for I < J and (2J +1) for I > J. (This one works provided we know
J > I)
39
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 6 Nuclear Eects on Atomic Structure
Relative Intensities The relative intensity of the spectral components will be proportional to the
statistical weight of the hfs levels (2F + 1). So if J is known we can nd I.
Usually, in practice, we may need to use evidence from more than one of these methods to be
sure. Conventional optical methods are often at or beyond their limit in resolving hfs. There is
the additional problem of Doppler broadening which is often larger or at least comparable to the
splitting. Laser techniques, radio frequency methods or a combination of both are used nowadays.
6.5 Isotope Eects
Mass Eects The energy levels determined basically by the Central Field are given by:
E
n

Z
2
e
4
m
r
2
2
n
2
(150)
Where m
r
is the reduced mass of the electron nucleus system. For an innitely massive nucleus
m
r
m
e
, the electron mass. For real atoms, however, we need to deal with the motion of the nucleus
around the common centre-of-mass. The resulting nuclear kinetic energy is
p
2
n
2m
n
where p
n
, m
n
are
the momentum and mass respectively of the nucleus. For a two-body system we can treat this by
substituting the reduced mass, m
r
, for m
e
in the Schrodinger equation. The change in energy is then
found simply by making the same substitution in the energy eigenvalues.
The result (and you should be able to work this out) is to shift the energy level up by
E(m
r
m
e
)/m
e
.
In the case of a two-electron system we will need to know explicitly the electron wavefunctions.
The energy change E
mass
is given by:
E
mass
=
p
2
n
2m
n
=
(p
1
+p
2
)
2
2m
n
(151)
=
p
2
1
+p
2
2
+ 2p
1
p
2
2m
n
(152)
Putting the p
2
1
, p
2
2
terms in Schrodingers equation gives a reduced-mass-type shift. The p
1
p
2
term,
however, needs to be calculated explicitly, usually using Perturbation Theory. The eect of this term
is know as the specic mass shift. The shifts are detected by changes in the frequency of transitions
so the eects need to be calculated separately for each level involved. What will be observed is a small
dierence in the spectral line positions for dierent isotopes. The change in mass has a decreasing
relative eect as the nuclear masses get heavier. Mass eects are therefore more important in light
nucleii.
Field Eects The eect of the nite size of the proton in the energy levels in hydrogen can be
calculated using perturbation theory. The energy shift is
E =
_

0

(r)V (r)4r
2
dr (153)
V is the change in the potential energy resulting from the dierence between a point charge and
some spherical distribution, either over the surface or volume of a sphere. This dierence is only
signicant over a very small range of r compared to a Bohr radius a
0
. So the wavefunctions are
essentially constant over the range of interest and so can come outside the integral.
E [(0)[
2
_

0
v(r)4r
r
dr (154)
40
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 6 Nuclear Eects on Atomic Structure
Only the s-states are signicantly aected so using
[(0)[
2
=
1

_
Z
na
0
_
3
(155)
The result can be derived. For the charge on the surface of the nucleus of radius r
0
we nd:
E
ns
=
Z
4
e
2
r
2
0
6
0
a
3
0
n
3
(156)
For the ground state of hydrogen the fractional shift is
E
1s
E
1s
=
4
3
_
r
0
a
0
_
2
5 10
10
(157)
This is a small eect but important since uncertainty in knowing the size of a proton aects precise
experiments to study QED eects.
41
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 7 Selection Rules
7 Selection Rules
Now that we have a better picture of atomic energy levels and have begun to see how transitions
between them are so important for our study of them, it is time to revisit the subject of selection
rules. These are the rules that tell us whether or not an atom can change from one particular state
to another. We will consider only electric dipole transitions; the rules for magnetic dipole, electric
quadruple etc are dierent and are not on the syllabus (thankfully). One way to approach transitions
is to use time-dependent Perturbation Theory and its result in Fermis Golden Rule. That also isnt
on our syllabus but we want to use some of the underlying physics.
In the rst lecture we looked at the wavefunctions for two states
1
and
2
involved in a transition.
Physically we had to generate an oscillating dipole an accelerated charge in order to create electro-
magnetic radiation. The solutions of the time-dependent Schrodinger equation, TDSE, have the form

i
= (r, , )e
iE
i
t/
(158)
So the perturbation matrix elements are:

i
[ er [
j
) e
i(E
i
E
j
)t/
(159)
The diagonal elements
i
=
j
represent stationary states and have no oscillation term, so atoms in
stationary states do not absorb or emit light. As we saw in Lecture 1 the o-diagonal elements do
give an oscillation of frequency
12
= [E
1
E
2
[/.
If the spatial part of the matrix element is zero, however, we will not get any radiation i.e. the
transition is forbidden. The spatial integral will be determined by the quantum, numbers in the two
states
1
(n
1
, l
1
, etc) and
2
(n
1
, l
1
, etc). It is the changes in these quantum numbers that give us our
selection rules. We need
n
1
, l
1
, n
2
, l
2
...L, S, J, M
J
[

i
er
i

1
, l

1
, n

2
, l

2
...L

, S

, J

, M

J
_
,= 0 (160)
7.1 Parity
The o-diagonal matrix elements represent the atom in a super-position of two eigenstates
1
and

2
. Any linear combination of solutions of the TDSE will also be an eigenstate [NB: this is not true
for the time-independent Schrodinger equation]. Now the spatial wavefuctions all have a denite
parity, either even, (+) or odd, (-). The dipole operator er has odd parity i.e. changing r to r
changes the sign.
If we consider, for the moment, a single electron making the jump from one state to another then
the contribution to the integral from one particular location (x, y, z) is:
e

nl
(x, y, z)
_

ix +

jy +

kz
_
(161)
If the parity of the two states is the same, then the product will be the same at the opposite point
(x, y, z), The operator, however, will have the opposite sign and so when we integrate over all
space the result is zero. Therefore, to get a non-zero dipole matrix element, the parity must change.
The parity, as we noted before, is given by (1)
l
, where l is the electrons orbital angular momentum
quantum number. So we have our rst selection rule:
l = 1 (162)
This makes physical sense because a photon has angular momentum of one unit of . So conservation
of angular momentum demands l = 1, for one electron to jump.
42
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 7 Selection Rules
7.2 Conguration
Could more than one electron jump? Consider an atom with two electrons at r
1
and r
2
with initial
and nal congurations 1s2p (n
1
l
1
n
2
l
2
) and 3p3d (n
3
l
3
n
4
l
4
). the matrix element is then

1
(1s)
2
(2p)[ r
1
+r
2
[
1
(3p)
2
(3d)) (163)
=
1
(1s)[ r
1
[
1
(3p))
2
(2p)[
2
(3d)) +
2
(2p)[ r
2
[
2
(3d))
1
(1s)[
1
(3p)) (164)
= 0 (165)
owing to the orthogonality of the eigenfunctions i.e.
i
(nl)[
i
(n

)) = 0
So this means the conguration can change by only a single electron jump.
The angular momentum does not depend at all on n, so n can change by anything.
Our basic rules are therefore:
n = anything (166)
l = 1 (167)
And the photon carries one unit of angular momentum.
7.3 Angular Momentum Rules
The basic rules apply to the total angular momentum J. So provided the changes in J in a transition
allow for one unit of to be taken by the photon we can make a vector triangle rule to give
J = 0, 1 but not 0 0 (168)
J
1 J
1
J J
2 1
=
J J
2 1
=
h
h
Figure 23: Selection rules reect conservation of angular momentum including for the emit-
ted/absorbed photon.
Similar arguments apply to changes in L i.e.
L = 0, 1 but not 0 0 (169)
The rule for S, we have already noted
S = 0 (170)
because the dipole operator er does not operate on the spin part of the wavefunction. Physically
this is the sensible notion that the electron spin plays no part in the spatial oscillation.
Finally we noted that changes in M
J
are governed by the rule
M
J
= 0, 1 (171)
There is a peculiar rule, with no obvious physical interpretation, that M
J
cannot change from 0 0
if J = 0. These rules will be apparent only in the presence of an external eld that raises the
degeneracy in M
J
. We consider the eects of external magnetic elds in the next section.
43
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 8 Atoms in Magnetic Fields
8 Atoms in Magnetic Fields
Atoms have permanent magnetic dipole moments and so will experience a force in an external mag-
netic eld. The eect of magnetic elds on atoms can be observed in astrophysics, eg. in the regions
of sunspots, and have some very important applications in basic science and technology. Magnetic
elds are used to trap atoms for cooling to within a few nanoKelvin of absolute zero; they play an
important role in the operation of atomic clocks and their action on the nuclear spin is the basis
of magnetic resonance imaging for medical diagnostics. The basic physics is by now familiar; the
magnetic moment of the atom, (
atom
), will precess around the axis of an applied eld, B
ext
.
The precessional energy is given by:

H
mag
=
atom
B
ext
(172)
The rst question we have to ask is how big is this perturbation energy compared to that of the
internal interactions in the atom. We have a hierarchy of interactions in decreasing strength: Cen-
tral Field, residual electrostatic, spin-orbit, hyperne. These are represented by the Hamiltonians

H
0
,

H
1
,

H
2
, and

H
3
respectively. The hyperne interaction is weak compared to that with even the
most modest laboratory magnets. So we neglect hfs for the present, but we shall return to it later.
At the other end we are unlikely to compete with the Central Field energies of the order of 10eV.
(Check this for yourself by estimating
_

H
mag
_
using
B
for the atoms magnetic moment and a
typical value of B available in a laboratory).
For the same reason
_

H
mag
_
is usually less than residual electrostatic energies ( 1eV) so we then
have to decide whether our external magnetic perturbation is bigger or smaller than the internal
magnetic, spin-orbit, energy. We can recognise two limiting cases determined by the strength of
the external eld and the size of the spin-orbit splitting. We dene a weak eld as one for which

atom
B
ext
is less than the ne-structure splitting energy. Conversely, a strong eld is one where the
external perturbation exceeds the spin-orbit energy.
Just to get the basic physics straight, and to get a feel for what happens, we consider rst the
simple case where there is no spin-orbit interaction. We select an atom whose magnetic moment is
due only to orbital motion and nd the eect of B
ext
on the energy levels. Next we introduce the
spin to the problem and the complication of spin-orbit interaction. Then we consider what happens
in a strong eld and nd, pleasingly, that things get simpler again. Finally we look at weak and
strong eld eects on hyperne structure.
8.1 Weak eld, no spin
An atom with no spin could be a two-electron atom in a singlet state e.g. Magnesium 3s3p
1
P
1
.
When the eld and its perturbation are weak the atomic states will be the usual [n, l, s, L, S, J, M
J
)
states. In this case, however J = L and we need only the quantum numbers L and M
L
. The physics
is pictured well by the vector model for an angular momentum L and associated magnetic moment

L
= g
l

B
L
Recall that g
L

B
represents the gyromagnetic ratio for an atom sized circulating charge.
In a magnetic eld B
ext
along the z-axis
L
(and L) executes Larmor precession around the eld
direction with energy:
E
Z
=
L
B
ext
(173)
= g
L

B
L B
ext
(174)
Now L B
ext
is the projection of L onto B
ext
and in our vector model this is quantized by integer
values M
L
. Hence
E
Z
= g
L

B
B
ext
M
L
(175)
44
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 8 Atoms in Magnetic Fields
B
ext
L
im
L
M
L
Figure 24: Eect of external magnetic eld B
ext
on an atom with no spin i.e. magnetic dipole due
only to orbital motion.
There are (2L+1) values of M
L
: 1 M
L
L corresponding to the quantized directions of L in
the eld B
ext
. Thus each energy level for a given L is split into (2L + 1) sub-levels separated by
E

Z
=
B
B
ext
(176)
i.e. independent of L; so all levels are equally split.
The splitting will be observed in transitions between levels. The selection rules on J and M
J
will
apply to L and M
L
in this case (J = L) so
M
L
= 0, 1 (177)
If we look at our example level 3s3p
1
P
1
by a transition to say 3s3d
1
D
2
we see 3 states in the
1
P
1
level and 5 states in the
1
D
2
level.
2
1
1
0
0
-1
-1
-2
M
L
D =-1 M
L
D =0 M
L
D =+1 M
L
(w - w (w Dw)
O O O
+ Dw)
Figure 25: Normal Zeeman eect gives the normal Lorentz triplet due to selection rules M
L
= 0, 1
and splitting of all levels into equally spaced sub-levels M
L
.
45
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 8 Atoms in Magnetic Fields
9 transitions are allowed but they form 3 single lines of frequency
0
,
0

Z
where

Z
= E

Z
/ =
B
B
ext
/ (178)
This is the so-called normal Lorentz triplet. The splitting of the line at
0
into 3 components is the
Normal Zeeman Eect. (This is why we used Z as the subscript on E
Z
)
It was explained classically, and fully, by Lorentz, long before Quantum Mechanics.
8.2 Weak Field with Spin and Orbit
Since, again, the eld is weak there is only a small perturbation so we can use the zero-order wave-
functions dened by the spin-orbit interaction, [n, L, S, J, M
J
)
The application of an external eld will, again, cause the orbital magnetic moment and angular
momentum
L
and L, to precess. The spin moment and angular momentum will also precess around
B
ext
. The perturbation energy operator is then:

H
4
= g
L

B
L B
ext
+g
S

B
S B
ext
(179)
The problem we now have is that L and S are actually precessing at a faster rate around their
resultant J. The eect of this is that the operators L B
ext
and S B
ext
no longer correspond to
observables that are constants of the motion.
B
ext
S
L
J
{
{
L
B
ext
s
J
J
B
ext
Figure 26: Precession of s and l around mutual resultant J results in projections of L and S on
the eld axis (z-axis) not being constants of the motion. So M
L
and M
S
are not good
quantum numbers.
We will use our Vector Model to follow the physics and to help us nd the solution. From the
diagram we see that the precession of S and L around the resultant J causes the projections of S
and L on the eld axis (z-axis) to vary up and down. The diagram suggests that since J remains at
a constant angle to the z-axis perhaps we could use the total magnetic moment
J
(=
L
+
S
) to
calculate the interaction energy i.e.
_

J
B
ext
_
(180)
There is a snag, however, to this cunning plan. The problem is that
J
is not parallel or antiparallel
to J. The reason is that the g-factors for orbit and spin are dierent; g
L
= 1 and g
S
= 2. Thus

L
=
B
L and
S
= 2
B
S (181)
The vector triangle of L, S, and J is not the same as the triangle of
L
,
S
and
J
.
46
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 8 Atoms in Magnetic Fields
All is not lost, however, because the very fact that the spin-orbit precession is so fast means that
we can nd an eective magnetic moment for the total angular moment that does have a constant
projection on the eld axis, B
ext
. We resolve the vector
J
into a component along the J direction
and a component perpendicular to J. As J precesses around B
ext
the projection of the perpendicular
component of
J
on z will average to zero. The component along the J axis is a constant, which we
call the eective magnetic moment,
e
i.e.

e
= g
J

B
J (182)
S
J
L
m
s
m
L
m
Total
m
eff
Z
B
ext
Figure 27: The magnetic moment due to the total angular momentum J doesnt lie on the J-axis
since the vector sum of spin and orbital magnetic moments
J
is not parallel to J owning
to the g-factor for spin being 2 g-factor for orbital momentum. The precession of s, l
around J results in a variation of the projection of
J
on the z-axis. An eective magnetic
moment
e
does, however, have a constant projection on the z-axis.
g
J
is called the Lande g-factor.
We can now proceed to nd the perturbation energy:
E
AZ
= g
J

B
_

J

B
ext
_
(183)
J B
ext
is just the projection of J on the z-axis, given by J
z
.
E
AZ
= g
J

B
B
ext
_

J
z
_
(184)
and using our [n, L, S, J, M
J
) wavefunctions we write the expectation value of

J
z
as its eigenvalue
M
J
. Hence
E
AZ
= g
J

B
B
ext
M
J
(185)
Lande calculated the form of g
J
quantum mechanically, but we can use our Vector Model to get the
same result.
Our vector model replaces expectation values by time averages of quantities that are constants of
the motion. So we look at our vectors L, S and J to nd the eective constant projections on the
z-axis. We see from the vector diagram that L has a constant projection on the J axis
LJ
|J|
. This is
a vector in the J direction so the scalar
|LJ|
|J|
is multiplied by the unit vector
J
|J|
, to give
|LJ|J
|J|
2
= L
J
.
47
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 8 Atoms in Magnetic Fields
Similarly, the projection of S on J is given by
[S J[J
[J[
2
= S
J
(186)
The vectors L
J
and S
J
have constant time-averaged projections on the axis of B
ext
. So the total,
time-averaged energy of interaction with the eld is:
E
AZ
= g
L

B
L
J
B
ext
+g
S

B
S
J
B
ext
(187)
= g
L

B
[L J[
[J[
2
J B
ext
+g
S

B
[S J[
[J[
2
J B
ext
(188)
The cosine rule gives the values of L J and S J in terms of J
2
, L
2
and S
2
. So with g
L
= 1 and
g
S
= 2
E
AZ
=
B
_
3J
2
L
2
+S
2

2[J[
2
J
z
B
ext
(189)
Now, as per our Vector Model method, we replace the vector (operators) by their magnitudes (eigen-
values);
E
AZ
=
[3J(J + 1) L(L + 1) +S(S + 1)]
2J(J + 1)

B
B
ext
M
J
(190)
Comparing this with our previous expression we nd:
g
J
=
[3J(J + 1) L(L + 1) +S(S + 1)]
2J(J + 1)
(191)
This is an important result (i.e. remember it and how to derive it; it is a derivation beloved of
Finals examiners.) Its real importance comes from seeing that g
J
is the factor that determines the
splitting of the energy levels.
E
AZ
= g
J

B
M
J
B
ext
(192)
g
J
depends on L, S and J and so by measuring the splitting of energy levels we can determine the
quantum numbers L, S and J for the level.
We will measure the splitting from the separation of spectral components of a transition in the
magnetic eld. The energy level splitting will be dierent in dierent levels so the pattern observed
will not be the simple Lorentz triplet. Consequently, this is known as the Anomalous Zeeman eect.
Hence the subscript is AZ on the energy shift E
AZ
for spin-orbit coupled atoms in a B-eld.
8.2.1 Anomalous Zeeman Pattern
As an example of the Anomalous Zeeman eect we consider an atom with spin-orbit coupling and
sodium is our favourite example. A transition between the 3p
2
P
1/2,3/2
levels to the ground level
3s
2
S
1/2
illustrates the main features. We look only at the pattern of lines in
2
P
1/2

2
S
1/2
and leave
the
2
P
3/2

2
S
1/2
as an exercise.
First we need to know g
J
for each level. Putting in the values of L, S, J for
2
S
1/2
level we
nd g
J
(3s
2
S
1/2
) = 2. We could have guessed that! Since there is no orbital motion the magnetic
moment is due entirely to spin and the g-factor for spin, g
S
= 2. Putting in the numbers for
2
P
1/2
we nd g
J
(
2
P
1/2
) = 2/3. We can now draw the energy levels split into two sub-levels labelled by
M
J
= +1/2, 1/2.
48
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 8 Atoms in Magnetic Fields
m
j
1/2
-1/2
1/2
-1/2
D
1
D
1
s p p s
3p P
2
1/2
3s S
2
1/2
Figure 28: Anomalous Zeeman eect in the 3s3p
2
P
1/2
level of Na. Transitions are governed by
selection rules M
J
= 0, 1.
The transitions are governed by the selection rules: M
J
= 0, 1, leading to a pattern of four
lines disposed about the zero-eld transition frequency,
0
.
8.2.2 Polarization of the radiation
The magnetic eld introduces an axis of symmetry into an otherwise perfectly spherically symmetric
system. This has an eect on the polarization of the radiation emitted or absorbed; the oscillating or
rotating dipole will have a particular handedness in relation to the eld, or z-axis. The transition
matrix element
1
(r, , )[ er [
2
(r, , )) represents the change in position of the electron and this
can be resolved into a motion along the z-axis:
1
[ ez [
2
) and a circular motion in the x, y plane

1
[ e(x iy) [
2
). The -dependence of these integrals can be written as:
ez)
_
2
0
e
i(m
1
m
2
)
d (193)
e(x iy))
_
2
0
e
i(m
1
m
2
)
d (194)
The z-component is zero unless [m
1
m
2
[ = 0 i.e. m = 0. Similarly the (x, y) component is zero
unless m
1
m
2
1 = 0 i.e. m = 1
The M
J
= 0 transition is thus identied with a linear motion parallel to the B eld. Viewed at
right angles to the eld axis this will appear as linearly polarized light, -polarization.
Viewed along the z-axis, however, no oscillation will be apparent so the -component is missing in
this direction.
Now consider the (x iy) component arising from m = 1 transitions. This appears as a
circular motion in the x, y plane around the z-axis. Thus m = 1 transitions give circularly
polarized
+
,

(right/left) light viewed along z, and plane polarized in the x, y plane.

It is possible using appropriate optical devices to determine the handedness of the

-polarized
emissions along the z-axis. The
+
and

transitions are either at higher or lower frequency

respectively than
0
depending on the sign of the oscillating charge. If you can remember the
conventional rules of electromagnetism you can work out the sign of the electron. Lorentz (who could
remember these rules) was able to use this eect to show that electrons were negatively charged.
49
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 8 Atoms in Magnetic Fields
Z
Y
X
q
f
B
ext
-r
q
1
q
2
f
q
f
f
2
1
Light
polarization
s
p
p
D = 0
f = f
m
1 2
D = + 1
f = f
m
1 2
-
-r
-r
Figure 29: Polarization of Zeeman components viewed along eld axis (z-axis) and along a perpen-
dicular axis (x- or y-axis).
8.3 Strong elds, spin and orbit
The word strong in this context means that the interaction of the orbit and spin with the external
eld is stronger than the interaction of the orbit with the spin. The magnetic moments
L
and
S
will then precess much more rapidly around B
ext
than they do around each other. Since L and S are
now essentially moving independently around B, the vector J becomes undened it is no longer a
constant of the motion. Our spin-orbit coupled wavefunctions [n, L, S, J, M
J
) are no longer a good
basis for describing the atomic state; J, M
J
are not good quantum numbers. Instead we can use
LM
L
and SM
S
to set up a basis set of functions [n, L, S, M
L
, M
S
). The spin-orbit interaction is
now relatively small and we ignore it to this approximation. The energy shifts are now given by the
expectation of the operator

H
4
:

H
4
= g
L

L

B
ext
+g
S

B

S

B
ext
(195)
Now we dont have the complication of coupled spin and orbital motion. Using our [n, L, S, M
L
, M
S
)
basis functions we nd
_

H
4
_
= E
PB
= (M
L
+ 2M
S
)
B
B
ext
(196)
The energy levels are thus split into (2L + 1) levels labelled by M
L
, each of which will be split into
levels labelled by M
S
.
50
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 8 Atoms in Magnetic Fields
Consider our 3p
2
P
1/2
level of Na.
2
P
1/2
m
L
m
L
1
0
-1
1/2
1/2
1/2,-1/2
-1/2
-1/2
Figure 30: The splitting of a level in a strong eld ignoring the eect of spin-orbit interaction.
We can now include the spin-orbit eect as a small perturbation on these states [n, L, S, M
L
, M
S
).
Again, we can use our Vector Model to nd the expectation value of the spin-orbit operator

S

L.
B
ext
L
S
L
B
ext
L
S
m
L
im
S
Z
Y X
L
Figure 31: Strong eld eect on orbital and spin angular momenta: l and s precess more rapidly
around the external eld relative to their mutual precession. The projections of l and s
on the x-y plane average to zero. As a result only the projections on the z-axis remain to
dene the energy in the eld.
Since L and S are precessing rapidly around the z-axis their components in the x, y-plane will
average to zero. We are left only with the z-component so:

S

L
_
= M
S
M
L
(197)
The six states (M
L
= 1, 0, 1,M
S
= +1/2, 1/2) have spin orbit shifts of (/2, 0, /2, /2, 0, /2)
as shown on the extreme right of the strong eld energy level diagram.
The energy level shifts E
PB
, ignoring the relatively small spin-orbit eect, lead to a set of evenly
spaced energy levels. Transitions between these strong eld levels are illustrated by the 3p
2
P
1/2

3s
2
S
1/2
transition in Na. The selection rules operating are M
L
= 0, 1 and S = 0.
The M
L
rule derives from the conservation of angular momentum (including the photon). The
S = 0 rule is due, again, to the fact that the dipole operator cannot change the spin. The spin
plays no part, so we expect to see a pattern of lines similar to transitions in an atom with no spin i.e.
the Normal Zeeman triplet. The allowed transitions do indeed t this simple pattern. The splitting
in the strong eld is known as the Paschen-Back eect, hence our E
PB
.
51
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 8 Atoms in Magnetic Fields
1
0
-1
1
0
-1
1/.2
1/2
1/2
-1/2
-1/2
-1/2
M
S
M
L
01/2
0-1/2
s p s
3/2
1/2
-1/2
-3/2
1/2
-1/2
1/2
-1/2
M
J
Dm
L
-10+1
D
1
s p p s
D
2
s s p p s s
D
1
D
2
3/2
1/2
1/2
2
P
2
S
J
H + H + B + B
o so weak strong
Quantum
Numbers
Finestructure AnomalousZeemanPaschen-Back
EffectEffect
Figure 32: Diagram showing splitting of Na 3p-levels from zero eld, through weak to strong eld
showing change from Anomalous Zeeman to Paschen-Back eect.
8.4 Intermediate elds
When the external eld is neither strong nor weak the situation is very complicated. The Vector
Model wont work and the result can be calculated quantum mechanically in only the simplest of
cases eg. ground state of atomic hydrogen. The energy levels can be found experimentally. The
transition from weak to strong elds for the
2
P
1/2,3/2
term is shown in the diagram. Two general
rules are obeyed. The state of M
J
in a weak eld goes over continuously to a state M
L
+M
S
= M
J
in the strong eld. This is because the projection of the total angular momentum on the z-axis is a
constant of the motion. The second rule is that states of the same M
J
never cross. You dont need
to know why in fact you dont need to know anything about intermediate elds for this course,
but I thought some people might be interested.
8.5 Magnetic eld eects on hyperne structure
We start this section by reminding ourselves of what was said at the beginning of our discussion of
magnetic eld eects. We consider the interactions in descending order of their perturbation energies.
It is the relative magnitude of the interaction energy that determines whether an external eld is
weak or strong relative to the spin-orbit interaction. In the same way an external eld will be weak
or strong in the context of the hyperne interaction with the electron and nuclear magnetic moments
relative to the interaction between the electron and nuclear moments. So we compare interaction
(i.e. perturbation) energies and not absolute eld strengths. Internal elds at the nucleus can be of
52
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 8 Atoms in Magnetic Fields
the order of 100T, so it would be dicult to generate a comparable eld using an external magnet.
The nuclear spin moment, however, is very small relative to the electron moments in the ratio of
m
e
/m
p
. So the nuclear interaction with the external eld is much weaker than that with the
electrons. It is possible therefore to generate interaction energies involving the nuclear spin that may
be stronger or weaker than the internal energies. The relevant interaction energies are:
A
J
I J +g
J

B
J B
ext
g
I

N
I B
ext
(198)
The rst term is the nuclear/electron interaction giving hfs. The second term is the interaction
between the magnetic moment
J
due to total electronic angular momentum J and the external
eld. The third term is the direct interaction of the external eld with the nuclear spin I. Since the
nuclear moment
I
<<
J
we can neglect this third term. We are left then only with the hyperne
energy A
J
I J and the electron interaction energy with the external eld. We can now dene weak
and strong elds in this context:
Weak eld AI J >> g
J

B
J B
ext
(199)
Strong eld AI J << g
J

B
J B
ext
(200)
8.5.1 Weak eld
In this case the wave functions dened by the hfs interaction remain a good description of the system,
[(n, L, S, J, I)F, M
F
) . So we evaluate the perturbation energy for the external eld interaction in
this basis,
(n, L, S, J, I)F, M
F
[
F
B[(n, L, S, J, I)F, M
F
) (201)
E
F
=
F
B
ext
(202)
Using our Vector Model, as before, we identify F, the total angular momentum, and F
z
its projection
on the eld axis as constants of the motion. F precesses slowly around B compared to fast precessions
of J and I around F.
B
ext
J
I
F
F
Z
Figure 33: Slow precession of F around B
ext
whilst I, J precess rapidly around F.
Recall that for L and S interacting with an external eld, we took the projections on J rst and
then projected these components onto the eld. We could do exactly the same here with J and I.
We have, however, decided to ignore the interaction of I with B
ext
. So we take only the projection
of J onto F to dene an eective magnetic moment
F
:

F
= g
F

B
F (203)
= g
J

B
J F
[F[
2
F (204)
53
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 8 Atoms in Magnetic Fields
[Recall that g
J

B
J is the eective magnetic moment along the J axis.] Using our vector triangle
from F = I +J we nd
J F =
1
2
_
F
2
+J
2
I
2
_
(205)
Hence
g
F
= g
J
F(F + 1) +J(J + 1) I(I + 1)
2F(F + 1)
(206)
The total energy is then, including the hfs term:
E =
A
F
2
F(F + 1) +J(J + 1) I(I + 1) +g
F

B
F B
ext
(207)
The second term is given by the projection of F on B
ext
i.e. M
F
. So each hyperne level is split by
an amount
E
F
= +g
F

B
B
ext
M
F
(208)
i.e. in the external eld each F-level splits into 2F + 1 levels labelled by M
F
= F M
F
F
As an example we take
39
K in its ground state 4s
2
S
1/2
. For a
2
S
1/2
state g
J
= 2, and for
39
K,
I = 3/2, so F = 2 or 1. Putting in the numbers we nd the g
F
-values for each hfs level: F = 2;
g
F
= 1/2 and F = 1; g
F
= 1/2. (For J = 1/2 levels the values of g
F
for each F-value will always
be equal and opposite in sign.)
The negative sign on g
F
for F = 1 arises because the J-projection on F for this level is in the
opposite direction to that for F = 2. This is easily seen from the vector diagram for F, I and J. As
a result the ordering of the M
F
states is inverted for F = 1.
F=2
F=1
m
F
2
1
1
0
0
-1
-1
-2
B
ext
Figure 34: Splitting of hyperne levels F = 1, F = 2 in a weak eld.
8.5.2 Strong eld
In a strong eld the electronic angular momentum J couples more strongly to B
ext
than the nuclear
spin I. As a result the total angular momentum F is undened; F, M
F
are no longer good quantum
numbers. The states are dened now rstly by the angular momentum J interacting with B
ext
, and
its projection on the eld, M
J
. As before, this leads to an energy shift:
E
J
= g
J

B
M
J
B
ext
(209)
What about the nuclear spin I? We are ignoring its direct interaction with B
ext
. Its interaction with
J, however, needs to be included. The nuclear spin I, and its moment
I
, wants to precess around J
and
e
, its magnetic moment along the J axis. Now J, however, is precessing rapidly around B
ext
.
The result is that I can follow only the constant component of J along the z-axis. The interaction
of I with the components of J in the x, y plane average to zero.
The average energy then is I J
z
)
54
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 8 Atoms in Magnetic Fields
J
-
I
-
J
Z
-
J
Z
-
m
I
X
Y
X
Y
Z
Z
Figure 35: Eect of strong eld on hfs: the total electronic angular momentum J precesses rapidly
around B
ext
(z-axis). As a result the nuclear spin I can follow only the time averaged
projection of J on the z-axis.
The component I along z is just M
I
and the J
z
component is given by M
J
. The next eect of the
A
J
I J term is to give an energy, A
J
M
I
M
J
so the strong eld energy level shifts are:
E
BG
= A
J
M
I
M
J
+g
J

B
M
J
B
ext
(210)
Although we call this the strong eld result, the internal eld from the electrons angular momentum
J, is still much stronger than the external eld. I and J are decoupled because J precesses much
more rapidly than I around B
ext
. The A
J
M
I
M
J
term arises from the nuclear spin precession around
the time averaged value of J which happens to lie along the B
ext
axis. We stress that we are ignoring
the (very slow) precession of I around B
ext
from a weak direct interaction of the
I
with the external
eld. The level splitting is known as the Back-Goudsmit eect, hence E
BG
.
The strong eld states are labelled by M
J
, with each M
J
split into (2I +1) states according to its
value of M
I
.
The unperturbed hfs levels eg. F = 1, 2 in
39
K are split by a few hundred MHz. To give a
comparable energy an external eld needs only to be 10
2
T. So a strong eld in this case is only
B
ext
0.1T. The separation of the M
J
levels is linearly proportional to B
ext
in the strong eld
regime. The separation of the M
J
sub-states remains constant as B
ext
increases.
The transition between weak and strong eld limits can be plotted through intermediate eld
strengths using similar arguments to that for M
J
to M
L
, M
S
labelled states.
The total M remains a good quantum number: M
F
(M
I
+M
J
)
States of the same M do not cross.
In addition we note that states with a unique value of M e.g. M
F
= 2 in the 4s
2
S
1/2
(F=2) level
of
39
K have energies linearly dependent on B
ext
. The no-crossing rule for other M-states leads
to a repulsion of states of same M. The energies eg. M = 1, 0, 1 in F = 2 bend away from
the M = 1, 0, 1 states in F = 1. This non-linear behaviour is characteristic of states becoming
mixed, i.e. neither M
F
nor M
I
, M
J
are good quantum numbers in the intermediate eld regime.
55
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 9 X-Rays: transitions involving inner shell electrons
9 X-Rays: transitions involving inner shell electrons
We have been concerned, so far, with the energy levels of the valence electrons i.e. those electrons
outside the lled shells (or sub-shells). Transitions between these levels involve photons in the energy
range of 10eV down to 10
6
eV. These energies correspond to wavelengths of 10
7
m to 1m. (Ultra
Violet, visible, infra-red, microwaves and radio waves). When photon energies are much larger than
10eV i.e. in the keV range then the interaction can disturb the tightly bound, inner-shell electrons.
Conversely, transitions of an inner-shell electron from one shell to another will involve emission or
absorption of the high energy, short-wavelength photons; X-rays. Usually, however, all the energy
levels of the inner shells are occupied, so, in order to allow transitions to occur at all, we rst have
to create a vacancy in one of the inner shells. The energy required to do this can come from either
the absorption of a suciently energetic photon, or from the kinetic energy of impact with a high
energy electron.
9.1 X-ray Spectra
X-rays are generated when high energy electrons strike a solid target e.g. the metal anode in a
cathode-ray tube. The spectrum of the X-rays generated in this way consists rstly of a continuous
range of wavelengths down to a limiting value corresponding to the maximum energy of the incident
electrons. These X-rays are the result of the deceleration of the charged particles and are known as
bremsstrahlung or braking radiation.
I
n
t
e
n
s
i
t
y
Wavelength
0.1nm
Bremsstrahlung
Thresholdenergy
Maximumenergyof
incidentelectrons
I
n
t
e
n
s
i
t
y
Wavelength
0.1nm
CharacteristicX-rays
Thresholdenergy
Figure 36: X-ray spectra consist of bremsstrahling and characteristic lines from inner-shell transitions.
When the energy of the electrons is increased above a certain value, for a given target material,
sharp peaks i.e. discrete lines, appear superimposed on the continuous bremsstrahlung. The
spectrum of these discrete lines are characteristic of the target element. These characteristic X-rays
have the following properties:
The wavelengths t a simple series formula.
All the lines of a particular series appear together once the incident electrons exceed a particular
threshold energy.
The threshold energy for a particular series just exceeds the energy of the shortest wavelength
in the series.
Above a certain energy, no new series appear.
These observations are explained by the following process:
The incident energy (from electron impact) is transferred to an inner-shell electron. If this energy
is sucient the inner-shell electron is raised to a vacant energy level. Now the vacancy energy levels
are those lying between the atoms ground state energy and the ionization limit. This is a range of
only 10eV or so. If the incident energy is of the order of 10
3
eV, or greater, then the most likely
result is to ionize the atom i.e. the inner-shell electron escapes with a kinetic energy equal to the
56
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 9 X-Rays: transitions involving inner shell electrons
incident impact energy less the binding energy of the inner shell. An electron from a higher inner
shell may fall into the vacancy. As a result of this transition an X-ray photon is emitted with an
energy corresponding to the dierence in binding energy of the two shells. For example, creation of
a vacancy in the n = 3 shell allows electrons from n = 4, or higher shells to fall into the n = 3
vacancy. (Higher energy impacts may eject electrons from deeper shells n = 2 and n = 1) These
transitions are the source of the discrete, characteristic, X-ray lines.
X-ray spectroscopy developed its own nomenclature and it is still (unfortunately) used, so we have
to live with a further set of labels. In the context of X-rays the n = 1, 2, 3 shells are knows as K, L,
M etc. respectively.
9.2 X-ray series
The X-rays emitted in transitions between inner-shell energy levels will have energies corresponding
to the dierence in binding energy of the electrons in the two shells concerned. The binding energy
of an electron in a given shell of quantum number, n, may be expressed using a hydrogenic model:
E
n
=
R(Z
n
)
2
n
2
(211)
Where R is Rydbergs constant.
n
is a screening factor that accounts for the eect of the other
electrons.
For the K-shell (n = 1) there are 2 electrons. As the ejected electron moves outwards the remaining
electron provides a spherically symmetric shell around the nucleus of Z protons and reduces the
eective nuclear charge to (Z 1). The other electrons in higher shells also make a contribution
to the screening. The total screening factor,
k
is then approximately 2. It is dicult to calculate
screening factors, although good estimates can be made using atomic structure calculations. Usually
we reply on experimental (empirical) values for . (The screening factors also depend on the angular
momentum of the states involved.)
Transitions from higher shells to a vacancy in the K-shell give rise to a series of lines. The
wavenumber ( = 1/) of these lines will be given by the dierences in the binding energies:
K-series:

K
= R
_
(Z
K
)
2
1
2

(Z
i
)
2
n
2
i
_
(212)
Where n
i
= 2, 3, 4 etc.
In general:

X
= R
_
(Z
i
)
2
n
2
i

(Z
j
)
2
n
2
j
_
(213)
With n
i
, n
j
integers and n
i
< n
j
.
K-series
L-series
M-series
n=4
n=3
n=2
n=1 K
L
M
N
abg
abg
abg
Figure 37: Origin of X-ray series from vacancies created in inner shells.
The longest wavelength series member is labelled , with successive lines denoted , etc.
57
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 9 X-Rays: transitions involving inner shell electrons
9.3 Fine structure of X-ray spectra
A single vacancy in an otherwise full shell has the properties of a single electron in an otherwise empty
shell. The X-ray energy levels therefore resemble those of hydrogen or alkali atoms. The energy levels
are split into terms and the terms are split by spin-orbit interactions giving ne structure. The
energy splitting due to ne structure can be written
E
fs
=
5.8Z
4
n
3
l(l + 1)
(214)
The levels are labelled by quantum numbers (n, l, s, j). The Z
4
factor results in very large ne
structure splitting for heavy elements (large Z) eg. 10
7
cm

1 in Uranium!
This structure was relatively easy to measure and for a long time such measurements gave the
most accurate values of , the ne structure constant. The X-ray lines have a multiplet structure
governed by selection rules:
l = 1, j = 0, 1 (215)
e.g. the K

line becomes a doublet K

1
, K

2
.
9.4 X-ray absorption
Absorption spectra in the visible or UV-range of the spectrum consist of a series of discrete lines
whose wavelengths coverage to a series limit; the ionization limit. The strength of the lines decreases
also towards the ionization limit. For shorter wavelengths than this limit the absorption is spectrally
continuous and continues to decrease in strength as the absorbed wavelengths get shorter.
The discrete absorption spectrum, the series of discrete lines, is the result of transitions of a
valence electron to higher, vacanct, energy levels. Beyond the series limit, absorption results in
photoionization; the bound electron is excited to an unbound, free state known as the continuum.
The probability of the photoionization decreases with increasing energy of the incident photon because
it becomes increasingly dicult for the photon/atom system to conserve both energy and momentum
in the interaction. The valence electrons are relatively weakly bound to the massive nucleus and so
cannot easily transfer momentum to the nucleus.
When the incident photons have X-ray energies they may raise an inner shell electron to an empty
shell (valence shell) or eject it from the atom (photoionization). On the scale of X-ray energies the
valence shell energies are negligible so photoionization is the most likely result. Once the threshold
energy for photoionizing an inner-shell electron is exceeded there is a sudden increase in the absorption
probability. The sharp increase in absorption coecient associated with such a threshold is called
an absorption edge.
K-edge
L-edge
L
I
L
II
L
III
M-edge
Wavelength
A
b
s
o
r
p
t
i
o
n
c
o
e
f
f
i
c
i
e
n
t
Figure 38: Absorption spectra are characterised by sharp edges with ne-structure. The absorption
coecient falls o for X-ray energies above each edge.
58
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 9 X-Rays: transitions involving inner shell electrons
These absorption edges are labelled according to the quantum number of the shell; K edge (n = 1)
L edge (n = 2) M, N etc. Each edge exhibits the ne structure of the shells. Thus the M edge (n = 3)
has 5 subsidiary edges associated with spin-orbit splitting of the angular momentum states,
2
S
1/2
,
2
P
1/2,3/2
,
2
D
3/2,5/2
. The L-edge has 3 steps and the K-edge is single.
When an absorption edge is examined with high spectral resolution it may be found to consist of a
few broad peaks that merge into the continuum. These features cover a range of typically 10eV and
correspond to transitions from the inner shell to one of the vacancy valence electron shells. These
absorption features are broadened by lifetime broadening since the Einstein A-coecient scales
with
3
, the cube of the transition frequency. (Recall that A=1/, where is the lifetime of the
upper state against radiative decay.) As a result of this broadening only a few of these transitions
can be resolved.
Above an absorption edge, the absorption coecients drops o until the photon energy exceeds
the next inner shell binding energy and a new edge is observed. At the K-edge, for example, the
photon energy is capable of ejecting an L or M shell electron. It is more likely, however to eject the
K-shell electron which is more strongly bound to the nucleus than any of the higher shell electrons.
As a result the excess momentum is more eectively transferred to the nucleus. So those electrons
held most strongly to the nucleus are most eective in absorbing X-ray photons. This eect partly
explains the rapid change in absorption at the edge and the fall-o in absorption for energies above
each edge.
9.5 Auger Eect
The creation of a vacancy in, say, the K-shell is followed by one of two processes.
Emission of characteristic X-rays as already described.
The ejection of a second electron and emission of longer wavelength X-rays. This is the Auger
eect.
K
L
e
1
e
2
-
-
PotentialEnergy
(E -E )
K L
KineticEnergy
(E -E )-E
K L L
X-rayabsorption
electronemitted
Secondelectron
emitted
Figure 39: Ejection of a second electron following ejection from an inner shell, resulting from excess
energy given to an electron when one electron in the same shell falls to a lower vacancy.
59
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 9 X-Rays: transitions involving inner shell electrons
The Auger eect arises because the vacancy in the lower shell (in this case the K-shell creates
potential energy that is shared by all the L-shell (and higher shell) electrons. When one L-electron
falls in the K-shell vacancy it can give up its energy either as an X-ray (K

line) or as kinetic energy

to another L-shell electron. The donated energy is E
K
E
L
and may exceed the L-shell binding
energy. If (E
K
E
L
) > E
L
then this L-shell electron has enough kinetic energy to escape. The
resulting ejected electron has kinetic energy (E
K
E
L
) E
L
= E
K
2E
L
.
This Auger eect is analogous to autoionization from doubly excited states in two electron atoms.
There are now two vacancies in the L-shell that can be lled by electrons falling from higher
shells. This leads to emission of longer wavelength X-rays than the K-series or further Auger processes
may occur.
60
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 10 High Resolution Laser Spectroscopy
10 High Resolution Laser Spectroscopy
10.1 Absorption Spectroscopy
Conventional absorption spectroscopy uses a spectrograph or a monochromator to record the spec-
trum of white light that has passed through an absorbing gas (White light is a broad, continuous
spectrum from a black body.) A spectrograph records the whole spectrum at once on a photographic
lm or CCD camera. In a monochromator the lm or CCD camera is replaced by a slit (exit slit)
similar to the entrance slit of the spectrograph. The spectrum is recorded by scanning the instru-
ment e.g. by rotating the grating, so that the frequency of the light exiting the slit is swept across
a range of frequencies. Absorption lines then show up as dips in the recorded intensity as a function
of frequency (or wavelength). The resolution is determined by the narrow range of frequencies that
are passed by the exit slit, the bandwidth.
The resolving power of spectrographs is limited to about 10
4
10
5
. Fabry-Perot interferometers
can achieve resolving powers of 10
6
10
7
. Taking 10
5
as a typical value for resolving power and
10
14
Hz as an order of magnitude for optical frequencies we nd conventional absorption spectroscopy
can resolve frequency dierences of 10
9
or 1GHz.
1GHz is also the order of magnitude of Doppler broadening of atomic spectral lines. So if we want
to improve the resolution of spectral measurements we need to do two things; increase the resolving
power and eliminate the Doppler broadening. Laser spectroscopy allows us to do both. (Note that
pressure broadening is also typically 1GHz at atmospheric pressure but this can be reduced by
reducing the pressure in the absorbing gas to a few mbar.)
10.2 Laser Spectroscopy
10.3 Spectral resolution
Instead of using a wide continuous spectrum and scanning a monochromatic lter across it, an
alternative method is to use a monochromatic light source and to scan its frequency across the
spectrum. Certain kinds of laser provide just such a frequency tunable, monochromatic light source.
[How these lasers work is not part of the Atomic Physics syllabus. Briey, however, they work as
follows. A laser is essentially a large Fabry-Perot interferometer, consisting of a cavity between two
highly reecting mirrors. Light bouncing between the mirrors forms standing waves of wavelength .
The cavity length is an integer number of half-wavelengths L = m/2. The wavelengths
m
= 2L/m
are called cavity modes with frequencies
m
= m(
c
2L
). The cavity modes form a comb of frequencies
separated by the Free Spectral Range, c/(2L), that are essentially the Fabry-Perot transmission
peaks. The sharpness of each peak is set partly by the Finesse of the cavity i.e. by the reectivity of
the mirrors. The spectral width of the modes of a laser however will be much sharper than those of the
simple Fabry-Perot. This is because there is an amplier inside the cavity that works by stimulated
emission. More intense parts of the mode spectrum are amplied at the expense of weaker parts
and so the peaks grow much faster than the wings of the modes. When additional lters are placed
inside the cavity a single mode may come to dominate the laser action. All of the power goes into
this single mode and we have an essentially monochromatic source. By adjusting the lters inside
the cavity and also the cavity length, the frequency of the mode can be tuned continuously over a
small range.] The spectral width of a laboratory single-mode laser is typically 1MHz i.e. 10
3
less
than the Doppler width, giving a potential resolving power of 10
14
/10
6
10
8
. It now remains to
reduce or eliminate the Doppler width.
61
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 10 High Resolution Laser Spectroscopy
10.4 Doppler Free spectroscopy
Doppler broadening comes about because atoms in a gas have a Maxwell-Boltzmann distribution
of speeds. The radiation emitted (or absorbed) by atoms moving with speed v is shifted from its
stationary value
0
to :
=
0
_
1
v
c
_
(216)
The number of atoms radiating this frequency is given by the number having speed between v and
v +dv
dN = N
0
e

Mv
2
2kT
dv (217)
Where N
0
is a constant, M is the atomic mass, k is Boltzmanns constant and T is the absolute
temperature. The intensity radiated (or absorbed) as a function of frequency is therefore
I() = I(
0
) exp
_

Mv
2
2kT
_

0

0
_
2
_
(218)
This is a Gaussian curve with half-width (FWHM):

D
=
2
c
_
2kT
M
log
e
2
_
1/2
(219)
(Note this is roughly
D
(v/c), where v is the approximate speed of the atoms speed of
sound.) This expression for the Doppler width suggests some ways to reduce its value.
Firstly we could cool the atoms i.e. reduce T. Practically we can do this only by cooling the atoms
using liquid nitrogen (77

K) in a discharge tube. Since

D

T this gains us only a factor of 2.

Secondly we could use low frequency transitions since
D
. Radiofrequency transitions can
be detected between hfs levels and this reduces the Doppler width to negligible proportions. Often,
however, we want to study optical transitions (UV, visible) so we now turn to methods using lasers
to reduce or eliminate the Doppler width.
10.4.1 Crossed beam spectroscopy
The simplest way to reduce the Doppler eect of moving atoms is to observe them at right angles to
their velocity. (This eliminates the rst-order Doppler shift, but not the , much smaller, relativistic
shift.) Atoms are heated in an oven, allowed to escape through a slit and are collimated by a second
slit. A tunable laser beam crosses the resulting atom beam at 90

and so sees atoms with essentially

zero velocity. The laser light is absorbed only when it is exactly resonant with the atoms transition
frequency. The absorption is detected using the light emitted by the atoms as they decay from the
excited state. This is more sensitive that measuring the very small change in the transmitted light
intensity. Atomic beams have very low density ( 10
13
cm
3
) and are usually only a few millimetres
wide, so the percentage absorption is negligible. Furthermore a single atom can absorb and radiate
many times as it passes through the laser beam and photons can be detected with good eciency.
10.4.2 Saturation Spectroscopy
When all the atoms in a gas are in the ground state the gas absorbs strongly light at a transition
frequency. If some atoms are excited to the upper state the absorption will be reduced.
Atoms decay from an excited state at a rate A
21
. (A
21
is the Einstein coecient for spontaneous
emission of a photon in decay from state 2 to state 1.) Stimulated absorption occurs at a rate that
depends on the ux of photons or the energy density of the resonant radiation (). The absorption
rate is then B
12
() where B
12
is the Einstein coecient for stimulated absorption. When the
62
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 10 High Resolution Laser Spectroscopy
Metalvapour
oven
Tunable
Laser
Fabry-Perot
Interferometer
A
tom
ic
beam
L
a
s
e
rb
e
a
m
Photo-
multiplier
Photo-
multiplier
Fluorescence
Frequency
calibration
Doppler-free
Spectrum
Figure 40: Atomic beam spectroscopy. The light from a tunable laser crosses the atomic beam at
right angles and so eliminates the rst order Doppler eect. When the frequency of the
light is resonant with an atomic transition the resulting absorption is detected by the
uorescence emitted by the atoms.
absorption and decay rates are equal the atoms are said to be saturated. The absorption coecient
therefore depends on the intensity of the light, I:
=

0
1 +I/I
sat
(220)

0
is the unsaturated absorption coecient and I
sat
is the intensity at which the stimulated absorption
rate equals the spontaneous decay rate; B
12
() = A
21
.
Saturation spectroscopy uses an essentially monochromatic laser beam split into a weak probe
and a strong pump beam. The pump and probe beams are arranged to propagate in opposite
directions (usually at a small angle) through the absorbing atoms in a cell or oven. The intensity of
the probe beam is monitored as the laser frequency is tuned across the absorption line at frequency

0
.
When the pump beam is blocked the spectrum of the probe beam will yield a Doppler broadened,
Gaussian, prole. At each frequency the detuning from resonance is , and the probe is absorbed
by the sub-set of atoms that are moving to give a Doppler shift equal to the detuning: = (v/c)
If is positive i.e. (
0
) > 0 then only atoms moving towards the incoming light are shifted
into resonance and absorb the light. (Similarly if is tuned to a lower frequency than
0
only atoms
moving away from the light come into resonance.)
When the strong pump beam is allowed into the cell and the laser has detuning = +(v/c) the
probe is resonant with atoms moving towards it. The pump however is resonant with atoms moving
away from it and so interacts with a dierent sub-set (velocity class) of atoms from those absorbing
the probe.
Only when = 0 i.e. =
0
do pump and probe beams interact with the same atoms; those
with essentially zero velocity along the laser beams. Now the pump intensity I
pump
I
sat
so the
absorption is reduced by saturation. The transmitted intensity of the probe is then increased at
exact resonance and a narrow spike is observed on the probe spectrum. This is the Doppler-free
63
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 10 High Resolution Laser Spectroscopy
Tunable
Laser
Fabry-Perot
Interferometer
Chopper
Photo-
multiplier
Photo-
multiplier
Frequency
calibration
Doppler-free
Spectrum
Strong
PumpBeam
Atomic
Vapour
Cell
Weak
ProbeBeam
Figure 41: Saturated absorption spectroscopy. A beam from a tunable laser is split into a strong
(pump) beam and a weak (probe) beam which intersect at a small angle in the absorbing
gas. When the frequency of the light is resonant with an atomic transition the absorption
of the weak probe beam is reduced owing to saturation by the pump. The chopper
modulates the pump beam so that the saturation eect is detected above the noise on the
detector of the probe beam.
spectrum. Usually the pump beam is chopped on-and-o and the dierence signal is recorded to
remove the Doppler broadened background to the probe signal.
10.4.3 Two-photon-spectroscopy
It is possible for an atom to absorb two photons simultaneously provided their combined energies
correspond to the energy gap between the ground and some excited state E
12
(Note that this requires
two photons to arrive within the volume of an atom within the lifetime of the excited state. The
photon-ux, or intensity, required can be provided only by lasers.) The energy required is: E
12
= 2h
The laser beam can be arranged to give two beams in opposite directions through the atoms. An
atom moving with velocity +v relative to one beam is Doppler shifted by +(v/c) but by (v/c)
relative to the other beam. So if the atom absorbs one photon from each beam the energy absorbed
is
E = h(1 +v/c) +h(1 v/c) = 2h (221)
i.e. independent of the velocity, and the Doppler eect is eliminated.
The two-photon absorption is detected usually by detecting photons emitted as the excited atom
decays to a lower excited level. The selection rules for a two-photon transition correspond to two,
sequential, single photon transitions via a virtual state. Thus we apply the usual dipole selection
rules twice to nd the allowed transitions. So two-photon transitions link states of the same (not
opposite) parity. L = 0 or 2. The atom will usually decay to the ground state by two, single-
photon, transitions, either or both of which may be used to detect the original two-photon absorption.
Two photons may, of course, be absorbed from just one of the beams and such absorption will
be Doppler broadened, The area under this Gaussian curve will be roughly equal to that under the
narrow, Doppler-free, peak so its level is very low relative to the Doppler-free peak. The broad, low,
Doppler broadened background may be eliminated by ensuring absorption of one photon from each,
oppositely-going, beam. This can be done using the selection rules for M
J
= 0, 2 and circularly
polarized beams. Absorption from a single beam of two photons with the same circular polarization
leads to M
J
= 2 (to conserve angular momentum.) Thus a M
J
= 0 transition needs one photon
from each beam corresponding to (
+
+

). This restricts the pairs of levels that can be used to

64
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 10 High Resolution Laser Spectroscopy
those where J = 0 or 1/2 in both level e.g. 3s
2
S
1/2
4s
2
S
1/2
has no M
J
= 2 transitions and only
M
J
= 0 is allowed.
Tunable
Laser
Optical
isolator
Fabry-Perot
interferometer
Photomultiplier
Frequency
calibration
Doppler-free
Spectrum
Photomultiplier
AtomicVapour
Cell
Fluorescence
Curved
mirror Lens
Figure 42: Two-photon spectroscopy. A tunable laser is tuned to the frequency corresponding to half
the energy required for a transition. The transition is detected following absorption of two
photons by the subsequently emitted uorescence. The optical isolator (diode) prevents
light feeding back into the laser that would cause instability in the laser frequency.
Two experimental details are worth noting. First, it is usually necessary to use an optical isola-
tor to prevent laser light being sent back with the laser itself. If a retro-reecting mirror is used
to generate two oppositely going beams then the feedback will upset the laser operation causing
instability in the laser frequency.
(An optical isolator is a device that passes light in only one direction. They usually use a polarizer
and a Faraday rotator a place of special glass, inside a strong magnet, which rotates the plane of
polarization.)
Secondly, the lasers usually need to be focussed to a small spot to generate the required intensity.
10.5 Calibration of Doppler-free Spectra
High resolution, Doppler-free, laser spectroscopy is usually concerned with measuring small frequency
dierences. The change in the laser frequency, or wavelength, therefore needs to be monitored during
the scan. This is usually done using a stabilized Fabry-Perot interferometer. Part of the laser beam
is split o and passed though this device. Transmission peaks occur when the frequency matches the
condition = mc/(2d), where m is an integer and d is the separation of the F.P. plates. These peaks
provide frequency markers every free-spectral range c/(2d) and are recorded simultaneously with the
Doppler-free spectrum obtained using any of the above methods.
Calibrated wavelength measuring devices based on Michelson interferometers, Fizeau interferom-
eters or Fabry-Perots can also provide absolute wavelength values if needed. Alternative means of
absolute wavelength measurement use simultaneously recorded absorption spectra of Iodine or Tel-
lurium, whose wavelengths are know to high accuracy and give many lines across a wide spectrum.
10.6 Comparison of Doppler-free Methods
We have described three methods of Doppler-free laser spectroscopy. There are several other
methods in addition to these three. How do we select an appropriate method? We need to consider
advantages and disadvantages of each method, so we need to consider factors such as the following.
65
Atomic Physics, P. Ewart 10 High Resolution Laser Spectroscopy
(1) Physical properties of atoms If an element has a low vapour pressure it may be easier to
form an atomic beam, than to generate a vapour of sucient density for saturated or two-photon
absorption.
(2) Availability of laser source Tunable lasers are available in most of the visible and near infra-red.
Various methods can be used to generate UV or mid-infra-red light but the power available may not
be sucient for two-photon or saturation methods.
(3) Experimental complications Saturation spectroscopy creates complex spectra owing to the
possibility of cross-over resonances. These are extra signals generated when the laser is tuned
exactly half-way between two adjacent absorption lines. The atoms with the correct velocity to be
in resonance with the pump on one transition are also in resonance with the probe on the other
transition.
(4) Advantages of two-photon methods Two-photon allows transitions to states not normally
accessible to normal absorption from the ground state. This is because such transitions are forbidden
by single photon selection rules. Thus, also, very highly excited states can be reached near the
ionization limit. Allowed transitions of similar energies would need UV lasers which are more dicult
to make.
66