Erbium

Main article: Isotopes of erbium
iso	NA	half-life	DM	DE (MeV)	DP
¹⁶⁰Er	syn	28.58 h	ε	0.330	¹⁶⁰Ho
¹⁶²Er	0.14%	Er is stable with 94 neutrons
¹⁶⁴Er	1.61%	Er is stable with 96 neutrons
¹⁶⁵Er	syn	10.36 h	ε	0.376	¹⁶⁵Ho
¹⁶⁶Er	33.6%	Er is stable with 98 neutrons
¹⁶⁷Er	22.95%	Er is stable with 99 neutrons
¹⁶⁸Er	26.8%	Er is stable with 100 neutrons
¹⁶⁹Er	syn	9.4 d	β^-	0.351	¹⁶⁹Tm
¹⁷⁰Er	14.9%	Er is stable with 102 neutrons
¹⁷¹Er	syn	7.516 h	β^-	1.490	¹⁷¹Tm
¹⁷²Er	syn	49.3 h	β^-	0.891	¹⁷²Tm

References

Erbium (IPA: /ˈɛː(r)biəm/) is a chemical element in the periodic table that has the symbol Er and atomic number 68. A rare silvery metallic lanthanide rare earth element, erbium is associated with several other rare elements in the mineral gadolinite from Ytterby in Sweden.

1 Notable characteristics
2 Applications
3 History
4 Occurrence
5 Isotopes
6 Precautions
7 See also
8 References
9 External links

[edit] Notable characteristics

A trivalent element, pure erbium metal is malleable (or easily shaped), soft yet stable in air and does not oxidize as quickly as some other rare-earth metals. Its salts are rose-colored and the element gives a characteristic sharp absorption spectra in visible light, ultraviolet, and near infrared. Otherwise it looks much like the other rare earths. Its sesquioxide is called erbia. Erbium's properties are to a degree dictated by the kind and amount of impurities present. Erbium does not play any known biological role but is thought by some to be able to stimulate metabolism. Erbium doped glasses or crystals can be used as optical amplification media, where erbium ions are optically pumped at around 980nm or 1480nm and then radiate light at 1550nm. This process can be used to create lasers and optical amplifiers. The 1550nm wavelength is especially important for optical communications because standard single mode optical fibers have minimal loss at this particular wavelength.

[edit] Applications

Erbium's everyday uses are varied. It is commonly used as a photographic filter and because of its resilience it is useful as a metallurgical additive. Other uses:

Used in nuclear technology as a neutron absorber.
Used as a dopant in fiber optic laser amplifiers.
When added to vanadium as an alloy erbium lowers hardness and improves workability.
Erbium oxide has a pink color and is sometimes used as a colorant for glass and porcelain. The glass is then often used in sunglasses and cheap jewelry.
Erbium doped optical silica-glass fibers is the active element in erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFAs) which are widely used in optical communications. The same fibers can be used to create fiber lasers. Co-doping of optical fiber with Er and Yb is used in high power Er/Yb fiber lasers, which gradually replace CO₂ lasers for metal welding and cutting applications. Erbium can also be used in erbium-doped waveguide amplifiers.

[edit] History

Erbium (for Ytterby, a town in Sweden) was discovered by Carl Gustaf Mosander in 1843. Mosander separated "yttria" from the mineral gadolinite into three fractions which he called yttria, erbia, and terbia. He named the new element after the town of Ytterby where large concentrations of yttria and erbium are located. Erbia and terbia, however, were confused at this time. After 1860, terbia was renamed erbia and after 1877 what had been known as erbia was renamed terbia. Fairly pure Er₂O₃ was independently isolated in 1905 by Georges Urbain and Charles James. Reasonably pure metal wasn't produced until 1934 when workers reduced the anhydrous chloride with potassium vapor.

[edit] Occurrence

Like other rare earths, this element is never found as a free element in nature but is found bound in monazite sand ores. It has historically been very difficult and expensive to separate rare earths from each other in their ores but ion-exchange production techniques developed in the late 20th century have greatly brought down the cost of production of all rare-earth metals and their chemical compounds. The principal commercial sources of erbium are from the minerals xenotime and euxenite. Metallic erbium in dust form presents a fire and explosion hazard.

[edit] Isotopes

Naturally occurring erbium is composed of 6 stable isotopes, Er-162, Er-164, Er-166, Er-167, Er-168, and Er-170 with Er-166 being the most abundant (33.6% natural abundance). 23 radioisotopes have been characterized, with the most stable being Er-169 with a half life of 9.4 days, Er-172 with a half-life of 49.3 hours, Er-160 with a half-life of 28.58 hours, Er-165 with a half-life of 10.36 hours, and Er-171 with a half life of 7.516 hours. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lifes that are less than 3.5 hours, and the majority of these have half lifes that are less than 4 minutes. This element also has 6 meta states, with the most stable being Er-167m (t_½ 2.269 seconds).

The isotopes of erbium range in atomic weight from 144.957 amu (Er-145) to 173.944 amu (Er-174). The primary decay mode before the most abundant stable isotope, Er-166, is electron capture, and the primary mode after is beta decay. The primary decay products before Er-166 are element 67 (holmium) isotopes, and the primary products after are element 69 (thulium) isotopes.