The Zeeman Effect

Edited 5/18/15 by Stephen Albright, JS, & DGH

REFERENCES:
Rohlf, 8-8; Tipler & Llewellyn, Chapter 7 (esp. 7.5); Enge et al., Chapter 9 (esp. 9-8); Eisberg,
Chapter 10 (esp. 10-6); Melissinos, Sections 7.2, 7.5, 7.6; Preston & Dietz, pp. 241-264.

THEORY:
This lab measures the Zeeman effect in mercury. The Zeeman effect is the change in atomic energy
levels due to the interaction of the electron's magnetic moment with an externally applied magnetic
field. The interaction energy of an electron with a magnetic field is given by

e
E g J J z Bz g J 0 m J B ,
2 me c

where the factor in brackets is the Bohr magneton 0 = 9.3 10 24 Joules/Tesla. J z mJ is the
z -component of the total angular momentum (orbital + spin, in units of ), and according to
quantum mechanics takes only the values mJ J , J 1,, J 1, J . Thus a magnetic field causes
a single energy level to split into 2J + 1 components.

The Lande g-factor is g J 1 for case where the total angular momentum consists of the orbital
angular momentum alone (S = 0, J = L), as one would expect classically. Quantum mechanics alters
this, to g J 2 when the total angular momentum consists of spin alone (L = 0, J = S). More
generally, the Lande g-factor can be found as

J ( J 1) L( L 1) S ( S 1)
gJ 1 .
2 J ( J 1)

This experiment will look at the 7S 6P atomic transition in mercury. The splittings of these
levels are shown in figure 1. The 7S level (J=1, L=0, S=1) splits into three, and has g 7 S 2 . The 6P
level (J=2, L=1, S=1) splits into five, and has g 6 P 3 / 2 .

Because the photon carries one unit of angular momentum, only transitions J z 0,1 can occur
by emitting a single photon. Photons from J z 0 transitions are polarized along the magnetic
fields direction. There are three of these, called the transitions, drawn in the centre of figure 1.
Photons from J z 1 transitions are emitted polarized at 90 to the magnetic field; there are six
of these so-called transitions. In this experiment a polarizer will block these transitions and pass
the three transitions.
The energy shifts of the transitions (from the unperturbed 546nm line) are

E 0, 1/ 2(0 B)

Figure 1: Energy level diagram of 7S 6P transitions of Hg in an external magnetic field

EQUIPMENT:
The following equipment will be used in this lab: mercury discharge lamp and high voltage power
supply, electromagnet w/ power supply, Fabry-Perot interferometer (FP), polarizer, interference
filter, computer, video camera, high precision rotation-stage, and Hall probe (shared).

The Fabry-Perot interferometer (FP) will be used to measure the change in frequency caused by the
Zeeman Effect. A Fabry-Perot consists of two front surface semitransparent mirrors (~95%
reflective). The mirrors are arranged front surface to front surface and separated by a distance d.
For the FP to work the two mirrors must be nearly exactly parallel. Light passes through the back
of the first mirror and repeatedly reflects between the two front surfaces. Light passing through the
first mirror at an angle from the normal will interfere constructively when

2d cos = n

Where n is the integer of the ring order, and the wavelength of the light. The solutions of this are a
series of bright rings. At small angles (we will only use small angles) we can approximate this by

2
 n
2 2
d

One can easily see that changing the ring number by one changes 2 by . Also note that changing

by changes 2 by . The Free Spectral Range (FSR) of the interferometer is the frequency
change that would cause the pattern to shift by exactly one ring, and can be obtained by setting
these two shifts in 2 equal to each other. By noting that at small angles, n 2d/we can obtain

an expression for the FSR: .
2d

At = 0, we have 2d = (n0 + ) where n0 2d/ is the order of the innermost ring and 0 1
gives the fractional ring order at = 0. We can then write the small angle approximation above in
terms of p = n0 n, the ring number counting out from the center of the pattern:

2 = ( + ) .

N.B. The ring number n decreases going away from the center of the pattern.

PROCEDURE:

Figure 2: Schematic of Zeeman Effect Experimental Apparatus

A. Seeing the Rings

i. Each station has equipment setup as shown in Fig 2. The Fabry-Perot (FP) interferometer is
a delicate and expensive apparatus; never touch or blow on its mirrors. The FP only works
when its mirrors are highly parallel. The front mirror (closest to you) is has a fixed
orientation but may be translated in the direction of propagation, while the rear mirror

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 (closest to magnet) is mounted in a gimbal mount that allows fine adjustment about its
vertical and horizontal axes, but is fixed in its position along the direction of propagation.
The front mirror is attached to a translation stage that allows precise control of the
separation between the mirrors. There is an interference filter between the lamp and the
interferometer that only passes green light.

ii. The Hg lamp, FP and TV camera are aligned so that when the camera and Hg lamp are
turned on a set of rings similar to those shown in Fig 3 will appear on the camera view
finder. Turn on the Hg lamp, FP and TV camera. If you do not see rings, tell the TA. Note,
the cameras focus should always be set to infinity.

iii. To display the camera image on the computer screen, go to the Appendix and under Video
Capture Instructions perform steps A. i A. v.

iv. Note: the following steps are tricky; they require patience and a gentle touch. To become
familiar with the sensitivity of the FP, watch the rings on the monitor and make very small
adjustments to the knobs on the FP gimbal mount. Try to get sharp, well defined rings as
shown in Fig 3. Only adjust one knob at a time. Alternate between vertical and horizontal
adjustments but only move to the other axis when the rings are visible. Due to backlash in
the gimbal mount, it is usually works best to always approach the ring pattern from the same
direction. Practice making clear sharp rings until you become reasonably proficient. If you
need assistance, ask your TA for help.

v. When the rings are very sharp, you will notice additional faint rings in between the bright
rings. These are due to a mixture of isotopes present in natural mercury and can be ignored
(the slight change in mass of the nucleus causes the energy levels to shift).

Figure 3: The green line of Hg with no magnetic field.

The faint lines are due to isotopes of Hg.

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B. Measuring

Open notepad and make its window as narrow as possible. Place one edge of the notepad
window near the center of the rings on the computer screen this will be used as an index.
Record the current micrometer reading. Rotate the fine control of the micrometer to slowly
increase the distance between the mirrors. Count the number of rings that pass the edge of
the notepad window. Record the micrometer reading every ~ 20 rings and continue moving
in the same direction (so as not to introduce backlash bias) for at least 10 measurements.
Use the FP equation (take 0 ) to determine the wavelength of the mercury line, by fitting
a straight line. (Note, this method does not depend on knowing where d = 0 is exactly, only
on changes of d.) Dont forget to propagate uncertainty from error you may have introduced
in n, the number of rings.

C. Measuring Zeeman Splitting

i. A polarizer is in the light path with its polarization oriented horizontally (parallel to the
magnetic field). Slowly turn on the magnetic field. Observe that each ring splits into three
components. See Fig 4. Increase the spacing between the mirrors and repeat (you may have
to adjust the FPs gimbal mount if you move a large distance). Do you notice any
differences in the behavior of the ring pattern? Setting the power supply to deliver 2A,
adjust the distance between the mirrors so that the rings from adjacent orders are nearly
overlapping but still resolvable. Try rotating the polarization direction so it is parallel to the
magnetic field. Do you see any changes in the ring pattern as you change the magnetic
field? Explain.

Figure 4: The Zeeman Effect observed through our apparatus.

The Hg tube is in a magnetic field & the polarizer is set to pass the 3 transitions ( m j 0 ).

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 ii. One way to measure the energy shift is to adjust the d or B until all rings are equally spaced.
Your eye is quite sensitive to identifying this condition with resolution superior to that
which you can achieve with this camera. In this situation the rings are shifted by 1/3 of the
spacing which exists between rings when no magnetic field is applied. You will likely need
to increase d as well as B to achieve this. The frequency difference between the two spectral
components is 1/3 of the Free Spectral Range of the interferometer, or in terms of
wavelength,

1
.
3 2d
Check that the splitting agrees with E 0, 1 / 2(0 B) . If you were to repeat this procedure
at several different spacings d, and thus different fields, you could measure the splitting in a
way which does not depend on where d = 0 is. It is not required that you do this.

Recommended Stopping Point for Day 1

D. Computer Acquisition and Data Analysis - The camera image will be captured with the
computer and the positions of the rings will be measured in pixels. These pixels will be
converted to physical angles.

i. Refer again to appendix A steps (i) (v) to set up the camera and virtualDub. NOTE that
the image on the computer will not have the same extent as the image on the camera; the
former will likely be larger, so this may introduce confusion if you try to switch between the
two of them for the steps below.

ii. Start by measuring the angular extent of the field of view. To do this, position a ring at one
edge of the screen. Record the angle on the rotation stage. Rotate the camera (using the
knob on the rotation stage) until that ring is at the other side of the screen. Record the angle
on the rotation stage and take the difference between the two. Note: the rotation stage
experiences backlash, so you should try to start beyond the extent of your first measurement
and rotate monotonically in the same direction to the final measurement to eliminate this
bias.

iii. Next, you should record the angular position of the rings relative to each other. Do this by
positioning a ring that is between 5 and 10 rings away from the center of the pattern at the
edge of the screen (or, alternatively, on the edge of a Notepad window that you do not
move.) Rotate the camera monotonically in the same direction, recording the angular
position of each ring as you go. Do this straight through the middle of the pattern, so that
for each ring you actually have a measurement on either side. Note that you do not need
even Spacing for this and the following steps.

iv. Use this data to measure . Plot 2 vs. p, and measure the slope of this line. Be sure to
include the error in d in your estimation of from this. How does this compare to the
previous method?

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v. Now measure the position of these rings on the screen. Set the camera to maximum optical
zoom (digital zoom off). Use VirtualDub to capture about one second of digital video.
See appendix A steps (vi) onward. Use ImageJ (start menu) to average these captured
frames and create a horizontal profile plot across the center of your averaged image. (See
Appendix B)

vi. Calculate the conversion factor needed to equate pixels to radians. The video cameras
specifications claim f = 67.2 mm at maximum optical zoom, and that the sensor is 720 pixels
= 3.21mm wide. Does this match what you find?

vii. With the polarizer in the horizontal position, switch on the magnetic field. Adjust the FP to
display an optimal image of split rings. Use the camera to take a measurement of the
positions of the split rings, finding p by subtracting the positions of the rings on the left
2

and right. (Do this subtraction for the left and right side of each ring.)

viii. Plot 2 vs. ring number for the rings created by each of the three wavelengths, and fit
straight lines to these. You should obtain a graph like Figure 3. The intercepts of these three
lines give a measurement of the splitting : does it match the theory?

ix. Discuss errors: is this more or less accurate than the first method of finding ? Can you
do it in a way which does not rely on knowing d?

x. Repeat this measurement of the splitting at several different values of the magnetic field.
Note that you do not have to have the rings evenly spaced. The resulting image may
actually be clearer at small d where the groups of rings are far apart.

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xi. Plot E vs B to confirm that E 0 B .
2

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 Figure 5: Sample graph of 2 vs. p, with the rings split into three by the magnetic field.

E. Calibrating the magnet

1) Do not do the following until you have finished all data taking steps above.

2) Make sure the HV to the Hg tube is off

3) Stick the hall probe down through the opening in the top of the lamp housing. Be careful not
to bend the probe. Carefully place it between the poles of the magnet, next to the Hg tube be
careful to not break the Hg tube. Note: the sensitive part of the hall probe is near its tip.

4) Make sure the magnet power supply is set to 0V before turning it on or off (a large dI/dt
across a large inductor can produce a dangerous kickback voltage).

5) Turn on the power supply and plot magnetic field vs current for the range of currents used in
the above steps nominally 0 -2.6 amps. Electromagnets exhibit hysteresis; to observe this
effect, plot I vs B while increasing the current, then make the same plot while decreasing the
current. Compare the plots. Note: Gaussmeters readings are highly sensitive to probe
orientation. Maximum readings are taken when the sensor is perpendicular to the field.

6) There are only two Gaussmeters so please be considerate of other groups by making your
measurements in a timely fashion

F. Aligning the FP - Now, to give you more familiarity with the Fabry-Perot interferometer, your
thoughtful TA will stop by and misaligned your FP. Following the steps below, realign the FP
until you see rings as clearly as they were before.

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1) Remove the rotation stage and TV camera.

2) Make sure the magnet power supply is off.

3) Turn on the Hg discharge lamp. For extra safety, avoid touching any of the high voltage
cables or connectors.

4) Caution: Fabry-Perot mirrors are very delicate and precise, never touch them or blow on them.

5) The FP mirrors need to be close but their metal holder cannot be touching. Set the separation
between the FP mirrors to ~1 mm and remove the polarizer.

6) Look though the FP, you should see a bright glow from the lamp. Your tube should be vertical
and centered. If you believe the Hg lamp needs adjusting, consult your TA.

7) With your head about 18 back and one eye on the optical axis of the FP, look through the
mirrors at the Hg tube. Focus your eye at infinity and try not to move your head.

a. The front mirror (closest to you) is fixed in place, but the rear mirror (closest to
magnet) is mounted in a gimbal mount that allows fine adjustment of its vertical and
horizontal tilt. Adjust the gimbal mount until the green image and the purple image
exactly coincide to form a single image that looks like an l. This indicates the
mirrors are nearly parallel.

b. Note: the following steps are tricky; they require patience and a delicate touch. Only
make very small adjustments to the gimbal mount. Adjust the gimbal mount until
you start to see a pattern of finely spaced concentric rings this indicates the mirrors
are very nearly parallel. Continue making very small adjustments until the rings are
as clear as possible. Note: Your eye must be on the optical axis of the FP, small
displacements of your eye changes what you see.

8) Turn on the camera and set its focus to infinity.

9) Place the camera and rotating stage back in position and align it so the rings are centered
horizontally on the computer screen with their left and right sides evenly illuminated. It may
be helpful to zoom out a little.

10) Carefully adjust the gimbal mount until the video image of the rings comes into sharp focus
(alternate between vertical and horizontal adjustments). Due to backlash in the gimbal mount,
you may find it desirable to always approach the ring pattern from the same direction. You
should be able to obtain an image something like figure 3. If after significant effort you are
unable to find the rings, ask your TA for help.

11) Show your TA your result. Feel free to print an image of your best ring pattern for your
report.

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APENDIX:

A. How to Use Video Capture:

i. Open VirtualDub.exe
ii. Click: file > capture avi
iii. Click: file > set capture file (remember where you put it)
iv. Click: Device > Microsoft DV Camera and VCR
v. Click: audio > uncheck enable audio capture (Dont forget to do this!)
Note: stop here for parts A and D steps (i) (iv). Continue on if you are at part D step (v).
vi. Click: capture > capture video
vii. After about one second, hit esc to end the capture. You should have captured 30 to 60
frames (closer to 30 preferred) and the audio size should be 0 bytes.
viii. Click: file > exit capture mode
ix. Click: file > open video file (open your file)
x. Click: file > save as avi
xi. Change the name of the file and save it

B. How to Get Data from an Image:

i. Open ImageJ
ii. Click: file > open (open the one with the new name), click OK
iii. Click: Image > Stacks > Z Project
iv. Do not change Start & Stop and make sure P Type is set to Average Intensity, click OK
v. The program will process and eventually open the averaged image. The image quality
should be much sharper which will make measurement of the ring radius easier.
vi. With the mouse draw a thin horizontal box across the center of the image. The height
should be small enough to minimize the effect of the curvature and the length should be
long enough to include a number of rings on each side of the center.
vii. Click: analyze > plot profile
viii. Save your data on the computer. The saved file can be opened in Excel as tab delimited.

C. How to Read the Vernier Scale on the Rotation Stage: Read the degrees on the large
horizontal dial. On the large horizontal knob are two scales, one that goes all the way around
the knob and measures arcminutes and one that is only about 1 long, this is the Vernier scale
which can measure down to 5 acrseconds. Both scales go from 0-60. Use the 0 mark on the
Vernier scale as an indicator to determine the arcminute reading. Then look along the Vernier
scale for a line that perfectly lines up with a line on the arcminute scale. Once this line is

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 identified, determine its value via the Vernier scale remember, the smallest increment is 5
acrseconds. The current angular location of the rotation stage is the degrees read on the 360 deg
horizontal dial plus the reading on the arcminute scale plus the reading on the arcssecond
Vernier. See example below.

Example - Refer to Figures 6a & 6b: In these examples, the Vernier is used to measure
arcminutes instead of arcsecounds but the concept is the same. To read the angular location on
the scale in Figure 6a, start by reading the degrees indicated immediately above the 0 line on
the Vernier scale. In Figure 6a that is 28+. Now find the point where a line from the degree
scale lines up exactly with a line on the Vernier scale see the red arrow. In Figure 6a that is
15 on the Vernier scale. Note: this value on the degree scale does not matter. Therefore, this
scale is set to 28 15.

Figure 6b shows a Vernier scale youre more likely to see in real life; read that scale and
confirm your reading with the TA.

Figure: 6a, Example Vernier scale

Figure: 6b, Example Vernier scale

It should be noted that you can also read these Vernier scales from the opposite direction, that is,
you can find how many minutes less than a degree an angle is, rather than how many more. Look
again at 6a. The first mark past the 0 mark on the Vernier scale is 29-. Now look to the left of
0 on the Vernier scale for the line that lines up with the degree scale. In this case the 45 mark
lines up nicely with a mark on the degree scale. Now we subtract the arcminutes from the degrees -
that is 29 minus 45= 28 15 - exactly the same as with the other technique.

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