Krems R V, Egorov D, Helton J S, Maussang K, Nguyen S V, Doyle J M
Department of Physics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA.
J Chem Phys. 2004 Dec 15;121(23):11639-44. doi: 10.1063/1.1814097.
The Zeeman effect in the excited A 2Pi(3/2) state of CaF is measured and analyzed over a wide range of magnetic fields. It is found that the splitting of the Zeeman levels is largely determined by the coupling between different rotational states and there are no low-field seeking states in the J=3/2 manifold of Zeeman levels at high magnetic fields. A model of the Zeeman spectrum based on the ligand-field theory of CaF is shown to be accurate in the interval of magnetic fields 0-5 Tesla. This demonstrates that the magnetic moment of the CaF(A 2Pi(3/2)) molecule is effectively determined by the spin angular momentum of a single electron and the orbital motion of the valence electron around the Ca2+ core. An analysis of the Zeeman spectrum as a function of the molecular rotational constant indicates that 2Pi(3/2) molecules should have significant rotational constants (at least as large as twice the rotational constant of CaF) to be amenable to magnetic trapping in high fields.
