erbium
Sign in to saveErbium is a chemical element; it has symbol Er and atomic number 68. A silvery-white solid metal when artificially isolated, natural erbium is always found in chemical combination with other elements. It is a lanthanide, a rare-earth element, originally found in the gadolinite mine in Ytterby, Sweden, which is the source of the element's name.
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Erbium is a rare silvery-white metal with the chemical symbol Er that naturally occurs only in combination with other elements. It is a lanthanide element originally discovered in a Swedish mine and is now used in various industrial and technological applications.
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Article
18 sectionsContents
- Characteristics
- Physical properties
- Chemical properties
- Isotopes
- Compounds
- Oxides
- Halides
- Organoerbium compounds
- History
- Occurrence
- Production
- Applications
- Lasers and optics
- Other applications
- Biological role and precautions
- References
- Further reading
- External links
Erbium is a chemical element; it has symbol Er and atomic number 68. A silvery-white solid metal when artificially isolated, natural erbium is always found in chemical combination with other elements. It is a lanthanide, a rare-earth element, originally found in the gadolinite mine in Ytterby, Sweden, which is the source of the element's name.
Erbium's principal uses involve its pink-colored Er3+ ions, which have optical fluorescent properties particularly useful in certain laser applications. Erbium-doped glasses or crystals can be used as optical amplification media, where Er3+ ions are optically pumped at around 980 or and then radiate light at in stimulated emission. This process results in an unusually mechanically simple laser optical amplifier for signals transmitted by fiber optics. The wavelength is especially important for optical communications because standard single mode optical fibers have minimal loss at this particular wavelength.