Incoming links: Hydrogen line
Uses the frequency of the hyperfine structure of caesium-133 ground state, i.e spin up vs spin down of its valence electron , to define the second.
International System of Units definition of the second since 1967, because this is what atomic clocks use.
TODO why does this have more energy than the hyperfine split of the hydrogen line given that it is further from the nucleus?
Small splits present in all levels due to interaction between the electron spin and the nuclear spin if it is present, i.e. the nucleus has an even number of nucleons.
As the name suggests, this energy split is very small, since the influence of the nucleus spin on the electron spin is relatively small compared to other fine structure.
TODO confirm: does it need quantum electrodynamics or is the Dirac equation enough?
The most important examples:
- hydrogen line useful in astronomy, and also the simplest possible case between 1s
- caesium standard, which is used to define the second in the International System of Units since 1967.