Zeeman Perturbation Matrices in the Coupled Basis

Highlights of the activity

1. Students write down angular momentum matrices by inspection.
2. Students use Clebsch-Gordan coefficients to calculate angular momentum matrices in the coupled basis.

Reasons to spend class time on the activity

The weak field Zeeman effect requires students to work in the coupled basis, where the fine structure is diagonal, but the Zeeman perturbation is not diagonal. This activity shows students the power of the Clebsch-Gordan coefficients.

Reflections

• Reflections from the original implementation.

• Reflections from "official" adapters/adopters.

• Reflections from the general public.

Instructor's Guide

• Wiki version

qmzeemancoupledguide.pdf