Orbital Zeeman Effect of Liquid Oxygen in High Magnetic Fields

Abstract

Liquid oxygen is a magnetic fluid which shows anomalous properties due to the spin quantum number S = 1 of the molecular oxygen O 2 . Bimolecular absorption, which is the origin of the blue color in condensed oxygen, is a distinctive feature of the magnetic interaction. In this study, the magnetic field dependence of the bimolecular absorption is investigated. By applying the magnetic field, a deformation of the spectrum shape along with a reduction of the intensity is observed. The orbital Zeeman effect, which releases the degeneracy of the excited state, can explain the change of the spectrum width. To explain the smaller energy splitting comparing to the theoretical value, the effect of the randomly oriented molecules is taken into account. For a quantitative understanding of the orbital Zeeman effect of liquid oxygen, more detailed analyses will be required.