Past exam of the advanced quantum physics course of the University of Cambridge / 2016 / Paper 1 / 1 / a / Solution

The open shell contains one $f$ electron, so $L=3$ and $S=1/2$. For a less-than-half-filled shell, Hund's rules select the smaller total angular momentum, $J=L-S=5/2$, giving the free-ion ground level ${}^2{F}_{5/2}$. The Landé g-factor isIn a magnetic field weak compared with the spin-orbit splitting, the electronic Zeeman shifts are $\delta E_{m_J}=g_J{\mu }_{B}B{m}_J$, for $m_J=-5/2,-3/2,\dots ,5/2$. Thus six equally spaced magnetic substates appear. At $B=1\mathrm{T}$, the adjacent-level spacing isThe complete lowest-to-highest multiplet spread is five spacings,Giving both quantities removes the ambiguity in the word splitting. This is the free-ion, weak-field result; no crystal-field doublet or hyperfine structure is specified.