Magnetic dipole transition

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The interaction of an electromagnetic wave with an electron bound in an

atom or molecule can be described by time-dependent perturbation
theory. Magnetic dipole transitions describe the dominant effect of the
coupling to the magnetic part of the electromagnetic wave. They can be
divided into two groups by the frequency at which they are observed:
optical magnetic dipole transitions can occur at frequencies in the infrared,
optical or ultraviolet between sublevels of two different electronic levels,
while magnetic Resonance transitions can occur at microwave or radio
frequencies between angular momentum sublevels within a single
electronic level. The latter are called Electron Paramagnetic
Resonance (EPR) transitions if they are associated with the electronic
angular momentum of the atom or molecule and Nuclear Magnetic
Resonance (NMR) transitions if they are associated with the nuclear
angular momentum.(1)

References

1_ C.Cohen Tannoudji; B.Diu; F.Laloe (1999). Quantum mechanics. Wiley. ISBN 978-0-471-56952-7.

Electric dipole transition

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Electric dipole transition is the dominant effect of an interaction of

an electron in an atom with the electromagnetic field.
Following (1), consider an electron in an atom with quantum

Hamiltonian , interacting with a plane electromagnetic wave

Write the Hamiltonian of the electron in this electromagnetic field as

Treating this system by means of time-dependent perturbation theory,

one finds that the most likely transitions of the electron from one state to

the other occur due to the summand of written as

Electric dipole transitions are the transitions between energy levels in

the system with the Hamiltonian .

Between certain electron states the electric dipole transition rate may be
zero due to one or more selection rules, particularly the angular
momentum selection rule. In such a case, the transition is
termed electric dipole forbidden, and the transitions between such levels
must be approximated by higher-order transitions.

The next order summand in is written as

and describes magnetic dipole transitions.

Even smaller contributions to transition rates are given by higher electric
and magnetic multipole transitions.

Reference

1_ http://electron6.phys.utk.edu/QM2/modules/