Question

What happen when atom is subjected to magnetic field?

Answer 1

The fact that there is a doublet shows the smaller dependence of the atomic energy levels on the total angular momentum . The 3p level is split into states with total angular momentum j=3/2 and j=1/2 by the magnetic energy of the electron spin in the presence of the internal magnetic field caused by the orbital motion. This effect is called the spin-orbit effect. In the presence of an additional externally applied magnetic field, these levels are further split by the magnetic interaction, showing dependence of the energies on the z-component of the total angular momentum.