3.

5 Splitting of a &level in Cubic Field 95

\ T2 (3)
a. b.

Figure 3.4: The splitting of a &level in the field of a.: six anions forming an
octahedron, and b.: eight anions forming a cube.

T2-type state ,Y’: and thus having Lz = 1. Thus it cannot surprise

us that a single &electron in the T2 level responds to a magnetic field
as if it had the pseudo angular momentum 1 = 1. Why the angular
momentum is only “pseudo” and not a true one, is explained in more
detail in the solution to Problem 3.3 (see p. 135).
The quenching of the orbital angular momentum is a curious affair.
By construction, each of the basis states is still an 1 = 2 state. However,
the matrix elements which could give rise to a Zeeman effect, vanish.
The essential observation is that quenching certainly occurs whenever
crystal field effects force us to use real wave functions. We have just
learned that as long as the relevant representation has a dimensionality
higher than 1, the use of real wave functions is not compelling, and only
a detailed argument can decide whether the orbital angular momentum
is quenched or not. However, if the crystal field has a sufficiently low
symmetry, all the irreducible representations become onedimensional,
and the wave functions are essentially real”. Given that the wave func-
tion I$) is real, it is easy to check that (+lLzl@)must be vanishing.
(+[L”l$) = -zh(@ltl/tl+[$) is pure imaginary. On the other hand, a
measurable quantity (an observable) should be real. Both statements
can only be true if ($ILzI+) = 0.
It is at least clear that the orbital moment is fully quenched in a
crystal field of orthorombic symmetry because all the irreducible repre-
sentations are one-dimensional (see Problem 3.2).

“We could give the wave functions an overall complex phase factor eiO but that
does not change the physics.