Paschen-Back effect

(spectroscopy) An effect on spectral lines obtained when the light source is placed in a very strong magnetic field; the anomalous Zeeman effect obtained with weaker fields changes over to what is, in a first approximation, the normal Zeeman effect.

An effect on spectral lines obtained when the light source is placed in a very strong magnetic field, first explained by F. Paschen and E. Back in 1921. In such a field the anomalous Zeeman effect, which is obtained with weaker fields, changes over to what is, in a first approximation, the normal Zeeman effect. The term “very strong field” is a relative one, since the field strength required depends on the particular lines being investigated. It must be strong enough to produce a magnetic splitting that is large compared to the separation of the components of the spin-orbit multiplet. See also Atomic structure and spectra; Zeeman effect.