Ytterbium information, including Technical Data, Safety Data and its high purity properties, research, applications and other useful facts are discussed below. Scientific facts such as the atomic structure, ionization energy, abundance on Earth, conductivity and thermal properties are included.
 Ytterbium is being applied to numerous fiber amplifier and fiber optic technologies and in various lasing applications. Ytterbium is found in monazite sand as well as the ores euxenite and xenotime and is available as metal and compounds with purities from 99% to 99.999% (ACS grade to ultra-high purity); metals in the form of foil, sputtering target, and rod, and compounds as submicron and nanopowder. It has a single dominant absorption band at 985 in the infra-red making it useful in silicon photocells to directly convert radiant energy to electricity. Ytterbium metal increases its electrical resistance when subjected to very high stresses. This property is used in stress gauges for monitoring ground deformations from earthquakes and nuclear explosions. It is also used in thermal barrier system bond coatings on nickel, iron and other transitional metal alloy substrates.
The name Ytterbium originates after the name for the Swedish village of Ytterby.
Ytterbium facts, including appearance, CAS #, and molecular formula and safety data, research and properties are
available for many specific states, forms and shapes on the product pages listed to the left. Elemental or metallic forms include pellets, rod, wire and granules for evaporation source material purposes. Nanoparticles and nanopowders provide ultra high surface area which nanotechnology research and recent experiments demonstrate function to create new and unique properties and benefits.
Oxides are available in forms including powders and dense pellets for such uses  as optical coating and thin film applications. Oxides tend to be insoluble. Fluorides are another insoluble form for uses in which oxygen is undesirable such as metallurgy, chemical and physical vapor deposition and in some optical coatings. Ytterbium is available in soluble forms including chlorides, nitrates and acetates. These compounds are also manufactured as solutions at specified stoichiometries.
Ytterbium has 2 valency state, +2 +3. The number of electrons in each of Ytterbium's shells is 2, 8, 18, 32, 8, 2 and its electronic configuration is [Xe]4f14 6s2. In its metallic form Ytterbium's CAS number is 7440-64-4 and its standard state at 20 ºC is a solid. The Ytterbium atom has a radius of 194 pm and it's Van der Waals radius is unknown. Ytterbium is considered to be fairly toxic. On the periodic table, Ytterbium is a Block F, Group 3, Period 6 element.
 All elemental metals, compounds and solutions may be synthesized in ultra high purity (e.g. 99.999%) for laboratory standards, advanced electronic, thin fillm deposition using sputtering targets and evaporation materials, metallurgy and optical materials and other high technology applications. Information is provided for stable (non-radioactive) isotopes. Organo-Metallic Ytterbium compounds are soluble in organic or non-aqueous solvents. See Analytical Services for information on available certified chemical and physical analysis techniques including MS-ICP, X-Ray Diffraction, PSD and Surface Area (BET) analysis.
Ytterbium was first discovered by Jean de Marignac in 1878.
 ytterbium |
 Ytterbium |
 itterbio |
 Itérbio |
 yterbio |
 Ytterbium |
Ytterbium Abundance. The following table shows the abundance of Ytterbium and each of its naturally occurring isotopes on Earth along with the atomic mass for each isotope.
| Isotope |
Atomic Mass |
% Abundance on Earth |
| Yb-168 |
167.934 |
100 |
The following table shows the abundance of Ytterbium present in the human body and in the universe scaled to parts per billion (ppb) by weight and by atom:
| |
Typical Human Body |
Universe |
| by Weight |
no data |
2 ppb |
| by Atom |
no data |
0.01 ppb |
Ytterbium Safety Data and Biological Role. The safety data for Ytterbium metal, nanoparticles and its compounds can vary widely depending on the form. For potential hazard information, toxicity, and road, sea and air transportation limitations, such as DOT Hazard Class, DOT Number, EU Number, NFPA Health rating and RTECS Class, please see the specific material or compound referenced in the left margin. Ytterbium compounds have no biological role.
Ionization Energy. The ionization energy for Ytterbium (the least required energy to release a single electron from the atom in it's ground state in the gas phase) is stated in the following table:
| 1st Ionization Energy |
603.44 kJ mol-1 |
| 2nd Ionization Energy |
1174.82 kJ mol-1 |
| 3rd Ionization Energy |
2416.97 kJ mol-1 |
Conductivity. As to Ytterbium's electrical and thermal conductivity, the electrical conductivity measured in terms of electrical resistivity @ 20 ºC is 29 µOcm and its electronegativities (or its ability to draw electrons relative to other elements) is non-detectable. The thermal conductivity of Ytterbium is 34.9 W m-1 K-1.
Thermal Properties of Ytterbium. The melting point and boiling point for Ytterbium are stated below. The following chart sets forth the heat of fusion, heat of vaporization and heat of atomization.
| Heat of Fusion |
9.2 kJ mol-1 |
| Heat of Vaporization |
159 kJ mol-1 |
| Heat of Atomization |
152.8 kJ mol-1 |
Recent Research & Development for Ytterbium
Dichloridobis(methanol-?O)[cis-(±)-2,4,5-tris-(pyridin-2-yl)-2-imidazoline-?(3)N(2),N(3),N(4)]ytterbium(III) chloride.
Baez-Castro A, Höpfl H, Parra-Hake M, Cruz-Enriquez A, Campos-Gaxiola JJ.
Acta Crystallogr Sect E Struct Rep Online. 2012 Jun 1;68(Pt 6):m815-6. Epub 2012 May 26.
PMID:
22719359
[PubMed - in process]
Free PMC Article
High power Yb-doped photonic bandgap fiber oscillator at 1178 nm.
Fan X, Chen M, Shirakawa A, Ueda K, Olausson CB, Lyngsø JK, Broeng J.
Opt Express. 2012 Jun 18;20(13):14471-6. doi: 10.1364/OE.20.014471.
PMID:
22714508
[PubMed - in process]
Tunable microwave photonic phase shifter based on slow and fast light effects in a tilted fiber Bragg grating.
Shahoei H, Yao J.
Opt Express. 2012 Jun 18;20(13):14009-14. doi: 10.1364/OE.20.014009.
PMID:
22714466
[PubMed - in process]
Optimizing the pumping configuration for the power scaling of in-band pumped erbium doped fiber amplifiers.
Lim EL, Alam SU, Richardson DJ.
Opt Express. 2012 Jun 18;20(13):13886-95. doi: 10.1364/OE.20.013886.
PMID:
22714454
[PubMed - in process]
Fiber-based source for multiplex-CARS microscopy based on degenerate four-wave mixing.
Gottschall T, Baumgartl M, Sagnier A, Rothhardt J, Jauregui C, Limpert J, Tünnermann A.
Opt Express. 2012 May 21;20(11):12004-13. doi: 10.1364/OE.20.012004.
PMID:
22714186
[PubMed - in process]
Efficient linearly polarized ytterbium-doped fiber laser at 1120 nm.
Wang J, Zhang L, Hu J, Si L, Chen J, Gu X, Feng Y.
Appl Opt. 2012 Jun 10;51(17):3801-3. doi: 10.1364/AO.51.003801.
PMID:
22695657
[PubMed - in process]
Controlled production of subradiant States of a diatomic molecule in an optical lattice.
Takasu Y, Saito Y, Takahashi Y, Borkowski M, Ciurylo R, Julienne PS.
Phys Rev Lett. 2012 Apr 27;108(17):173002. Epub 2012 Apr 23.
PMID:
22680859
[PubMed - in process]
Effects of rare earth elements La and Yb on the morphological and functional development of zebrafish embryos.
Cui J, Zhang Z, Bai W, Zhang L, He X, Ma Y, Liu Y, Chai Z.
J Environ Sci (China). 2012;24(2):209-13.
PMID:
22655378
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
Compact, highly efficient ytterbium doped bismuthate glass waveguide laser.
Mary R, Beecher SJ, Brown G, Thomson RR, Jaque D, Ohara S, Kar AK.
Opt Lett. 2012 May 15;37(10):1691-3. doi: 10.1364/OL.37.001691.
PMID:
22627539
[PubMed - in process]
Ytterbium-based bioprobes for near-infrared two-photon scanning laser microscopy imaging.
D'Aléo A, Bourdolle A, Brustlein S, Fauquier T, Grichine A, Duperray A, Baldeck PL, Andraud C, Brasselet S, Maury O.
Angew Chem Int Ed Engl. 2012 Jul 2;51(27):6622-5. doi: 10.1002/anie.201202212. Epub 2012 May 23.
PMID:
22623370
[PubMed - in process]
Stand-off detection of solid targets with diffuse reflection spectroscopy using a high-power mid-infrared supercontinuum source.
Kumar M, Islam MN, Terry FL, Freeman MJ, Chan A, Neelakandan M, Manzur T.
Appl Opt. 2012 May 20;51(15):2794-807. doi: 10.1364/AO.51.002794.
PMID:
22614581
[PubMed - in process]
157 W all-fiber high-power picosecond laser.
Song R, Hou J, Chen S, Yang W, Lu Q.
Appl Opt. 2012 May 1;51(13):2497-500. doi: 10.1364/AO.51.002497.
PMID:
22614432
[PubMed - in process]
Crystal Structure of YbCu(6)In(6) and Mixed Valence Behavior of Yb in YbCu(6-x)In(6+x) (x = 0, 1, and 2) Solid Solution.
Subbarao U, Peter SC.
Inorg Chem. 2012 Jun 4;51(11):6326-32. Epub 2012 May 21.
PMID:
22612384
[PubMed - in process]
High-accuracy measurement of atomic polarizability in an optical lattice clock.
Sherman JA, Lemke ND, Hinkley N, Pizzocaro M, Fox RW, Ludlow AD, Oates CW.
Phys Rev Lett. 2012 Apr 13;108(15):153002. Epub 2012 Apr 13.
PMID:
22587248
[PubMed - in process]
Application of optical coherence tomography and high-frequency ultrasound imaging during noninvasive laser vasectomy.
Cilip CM, Allaf ME, Fried NM.
J Biomed Opt. 2012 Apr;17(4):046006.
PMID:
22559684
[PubMed - in process]
High power supercontinuum generation in a nonlinear ytterbium-doped fiber amplifier.
Song R, Hou J, Chen S, Yang W, Lu Q.
Opt Lett. 2012 May 1;37(9):1529-31. doi: 10.1364/OL.37.001529.
PMID:
22555727
[PubMed - in process]
Ultrafast three-dimensional submicrometer-resolution readout of coherent optical-phonon oscillations with shaped unamplified laser pulses at 20 MHz.
Lanin AA, Fedotov AB, Zheltikov AM.
Opt Lett. 2012 May 1;37(9):1508-10. doi: 10.1364/OL.37.001508.
PMID:
22555720
[PubMed - in process]
40-fs Yb3+:CaGdAlO4 laser pumped by a single-mode 350-mW laser diode.
Agnesi A, Greborio A, Pirzio F, Reali G, Aus der Au J, Guandalini A.
Opt Express. 2012 Apr 23;20(9):10077-82. doi: 10.1364/OE.20.010077.
PMID:
22535098
[PubMed - in process]
Radiation hardening techniques for Er/Yb doped optical fibers and amplifiers for space application.
Girard S, Vivona M, Laurent A, Cadier B, Marcandella C, Robin T, Pinsard E, Boukenter A, Ouerdane Y.
Opt Express. 2012 Apr 9;20(8):8457-65. doi: 10.1364/OE.20.008457.
PMID:
22513553
[PubMed - in process]
[Synthesis of asymmetric tetraarylporphyrins and its ytterbium complexes].
Rumiantseva VD, Roshchina NV, Fedorova LD, Mironov AF, Markushev VM, Shilov IP.
Bioorg Khim. 2011 Nov-Dec;37(6):844-53. Russian.
PMID:
22497084
[PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
|
