What Defines the Weak Field Regime in the Zeeman Effect?

[rabbit44]

Hi, quick question:

I have been told that the weak field regime is when the spin orbit interaction dominates over the Zeeman effect.

What exactly does this mean? Does it mean that the energy shift relative to the gross energy due to the S-O interaction is much greater than the energy shift relative to the gross energy due to the Zeeman effect? Or does it mean that the energy shift due to the Zeeman effect is small compared to the difference in energy between consecutive fine structure levels?

Thanks

 

[wdlang]

Hi, quick question:

I have been told that the weak field regime is when the spin orbit interaction dominates over the Zeeman effect.

What exactly does this mean? Does it mean that the energy shift relative to the gross energy due to the S-O interaction is much greater than the energy shift relative to the gross energy due to the Zeeman effect? Or does it mean that the energy shift due to the Zeeman effect is small compared to the difference in energy between consecutive fine structure levels?

Thanks

your understanding is exactly right

so that the zeeman term can be treated as a perturbation over other terms

 

[Entropia]

for your question! The Zeeman effect is a phenomenon in which the energy levels of an atom or molecule are split in the presence of a magnetic field. In the weak field regime, the spin-orbit interaction, which is the interaction between the electron's spin and its orbital motion, is stronger than the Zeeman effect. This means that the energy shift due to the spin-orbit interaction is larger than the energy shift caused by the magnetic field.

To answer your question, it is a combination of both factors that you mentioned. The energy shift relative to the gross energy due to the spin-orbit interaction is indeed larger than the energy shift due to the Zeeman effect. However, the energy shift due to the Zeeman effect is also small compared to the difference in energy between consecutive fine structure levels. This is because the Zeeman effect only causes a splitting of the energy levels, while the spin-orbit interaction affects the actual energy values of the levels.

In summary, the weak field regime is characterized by a dominance of the spin-orbit interaction over the Zeeman effect, resulting in a larger energy shift and a smaller energy difference between consecutive fine structure levels compared to the strong field regime. I hope this helps clarify the concept for you.