NORMAL ZEEMAN EFFECT EXPERIMENT INTRODUCTION

Zeeman effect: Splitting of atomic energy levels and the associated spectrum lines when atoms are placed in a magnetic field is called Zeeman effect. In most atoms, there exist several electronic configurations that have the same energy, so that transitions between different pairs of configurations correspond to a single line. The presence of a magnetic field breaks the degeneracy, since it interacts in a different way with electrons with different quantum numbers, slightly modifying their energies. The result is that, where there were several configurations with the same energy, now there are different energies, which give rise to very close spectral lines. The changes in energies of spectral lines result from interaction of orbital and spin magnetic moments of electrons with the field. Based on these interactions Zeeman effect has been classified into two types: Normal Zeeman effect and Anomalous Zeeman effect Normal Zeeman effect: This type of splitting is observed for states in which the only angular momentum is the orbital angular momentum and spin does not contribute to the total angular momentum. Anomalous Zeeman effect: This type of splitting is observed for states in which electron spin is also included. Thus a great variety of splitting patterns are observed. Orbital magnetic interaction in Normal Zeeman effect: An external magnetic field will exert a torque on a magnetic dipole and the magnetic potential energy which results is

U()=-.B

The magnetic dipole moment associated with the orbital angular momentum of an electron is given by

orbital=

-e L 2me

For magnetic field in z-direction this gives

U=

e e LzB=ml B 2me 2me

Considering the quantization of angular momentum, this gives equally spaced energy levels displaced from the zero field level by

E=ml

e B=mBB l where B=Bohr magneton 2me e B= =5.7810-5 eV/T 2me

This displacement of energy levels gives the uniformly spaced multiplet splitting of the spectral lines which is called Zeeman effect. Normal transverse and longitudinal Zeeman effect: In normal Zeeman effect a single spectral line is split into three components. One component line is in the same position as the original line ( component) and other two components ( components), one on either side of this line, are separated by equal amounts. When viewed perpendicular to the magnetic field the two components are polarized perpendicular to the magnetic field and the component is polarized parallel to the magnetic field. When viewed parallel to the magnetic field the component is absent and the components are circularly polarized in opposite directions.

EXPERIMENT
Observing the normal Zeeman effect in transverse and longitudinal configuration Apparatus: Cadmium lamps, clamps, converging lens, Fabry-Perot etalon (as interference spectrometer), colour filter, polarization filter, quarter-wavelength plate, ocular Procedure: The experiment is set as shown in figure:

Experimental setup for Zeeman effect:

For the transverse configuration first the circular fringe pattern is observed without magnetic field. Then the current is slowly enhanced until the split fringes are clearly separated. Polarization filter is introduced into the ray path and set to 90o until the outer components of the triplet structure disappear. Then the filter is rotated to 0o until the component in the middle disappears. For the longitudinal configuration the entire setup of cadmium lamp is rotated by 90o. First the circular fringe pattern without the magnetic field is observed and then the current is slowly enhanced until the split fringes are clearly separated. A quarter-wavelength plate is introduced into the ray path between the cadmium lamp and the polarization filter and is set to 0o. Polarization filter is set to +45o and -45o. In each case one of the two doublet components disappears. Observations: Observing in the transverse configuration

Interference pattern for Zeeman effect in transverse configuration a) observed without polarization filter b) observed with polarization direction of the filter perpendicular to the magnetic field c) observed with polarization direction of the filter parallel to the magnetic field Observing in the longitudinal configuration

Interference pattern for the Zeeman effect in the longitudinal configuration a) observed without quarter-wavelength plate and polarization filter b), c) observed with quarter-wavelength plate and polarization filter to demonstrate counterclockwise and clockwise circular polarization Level splitting and transitions of the normal Zeeman effect in cadmium:

(Lab Report Normal Zeeman Effect Experiment by: Arooj Mukarram)