Study of the Zeeman effect using gas jets in Mega-Gauss magnetic fields

We have developed an experimental platform for studying the Zeeman effect in 2-3 MG magnetic fields generated in the 1 MA Zebra pulsed power machine by directing supersonic hydrogen gas jets into a rod load. Hydrogen atoms are excited upon contact of the gas jet with the load surface characteristic of a temperature of 0.6-0.7 eV, and backlit by blackbody radiation from the rod load. Hydrogen absorption spectra were recorded using a grating spectrometer and an intensified gated CCD camera. We observed the quadratic Zeeman effect in hydrogen using the Zeeman spectral shift of the central triplet line transition. Noble gases can also be studied using this gas jet method. Absorption spectra of helium in a MG magnetic field have been recorded as well. The quadratic Zeeman effect is relevant for the interpretation of spectra from atmospheres of magnetic white dwarfs.