{"term":{"id":"05870","title":"spin–orbit coupling","longtitle":"IUPAC Gold Book - spin–orbit coupling","doi":"10.1351\/goldbook.S05870","code":"S05870","status":"current","definitions":[{"id":1,"text":"The interaction of the electron spin magnetic moment with the magnetic moment due to the orbital motion of the electron. One consequence of spin-orbit coupling is the mixing of zero-order states of different multiplicity. This effect may result in fine structure called spin-orbit splitting.","links":[{"term":"coupling","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/C01025"},{"term":"spin-orbit splitting","url":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/S05872"}],"sources":["PAC, 1996, 68, 2223. 'Glossary of terms used in photochemistry (IUPAC Recommendations 1996)' on page 2277 (https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1351\/pac199668122223)"]}],"altoutputs":{"html":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/S05870\/html","xml":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/S05870\/xml","plain":"https:\/\/goldbook.iupac.org\/terms\/view\/S05870\/plain"},"citation":"Citation: 'spin–orbit coupling' in IUPAC Compendium of Chemical Terminology, 5th ed. International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry; 2025. Online version 5.0.0, 2025. 10.1351\/goldbook.S05870","license":"The IUPAC Gold Book is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike CC BY-SA 4.0 International (https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-sa\/4.0\/) for individual terms.","collection":"If you are interested in licensing the Gold Book for commercial use, please contact the IUPAC Executive Director at executivedirector@iupac.org .","disclaimer":"The International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) is continuously reviewing and, where needed, updating terms in the Compendium of Chemical Terminology (the IUPAC Gold Book). Users of these terms are encouraged to include the version of a term with its use and to check regularly for updates to term definitions that you are using.","accessed":"2026-07-01T01:03:49+00:00"}}