On the hamiltonians for magneto-optical intensities

Abstract

A multipolar semi-classical hamiltonian for magneto-optical intensities is derived by a canonical transformation taking Feynman's formulation of the conventional Pauli hamiltonian as the point of departure. Only interactions up to the order of electric quadrupole and magnetic dipole terms are retained. The resulting hamiltonians are divided into their respective time-independent, single photon and double photon parts, and the difference in the appearance of magnetic field dependent contributions in the perturbation terms is analysed. On the basis of this analysis it is argued that the magnetic field dependent term in the magnetic dipole transition moment operator may lead to a unique single photon process with an amplitude proportional to the static magnetic field. This process leads, amongst others, to transitions between totally symmetric atomic states, in contrast to the standard multipolar selection rules of ordinary spectroscopy.