Erbium, the 68th element in the periodic table.
The discovery of erbium is full of twists and turns. In 1787, in the small town of Itby, 1.6 kilometers away from Stockholm, Sweden, a new rare earth was discovered in a black stone, named yttrium earth according to the location of the discovery. After the French Revolution, chemist Mossander used newly developed technology to reduce elemental yttrium from yttrium earth. At this point, people realized that yttrium earth is not a “single component” and found two other oxides: the pink one is called erbium oxide, and the light purple one is called terbium oxide. In 1843, Mossander discovered erbium and terbium, but he did not believe that the two substances found were pure and possibly mixed with other substances. In the following decades, people gradually discovered that there were indeed many elements mixed in it, and gradually found other lanthanide metal elements besides erbium and terbium.
The study of erbium was not as smooth as its discovery. Although Maussand discovered pink erbium oxide in 1843, it was not until 1934 that pure samples of erbium metal were extracted due to continuous improvement in purification methods. By heating and purifying erbium chloride and potassium, people have achieved the reduction of erbium by metal potassium. Even so, the properties of erbium are too similar to other lanthanide metal elements, resulting in nearly 50 years of stagnation in related research, such as magnetism, friction energy, and spark generation. Until 1959, with the application of the special 4f layer electronic structure of erbium atoms in emerging optical fields, erbium gained attention and multiple applications of erbium were developed.
Erbium, silver white, has a soft texture and only exhibits strong ferromagnetism near absolute zero. It is a superconductor and is slowly oxidized by air and water at room temperature. Erbium oxide is a rose red color commonly used in the porcelain industry and is a good glaze. Erbium is concentrated in volcanic rocks and has large-scale mineral deposits in southern China.
Erbium has outstanding optical properties and can convert infrared into visible light, making it the perfect material for making infrared detectors and night vision devices. It is also a skilled tool in photon detection, capable of continuously absorbing photons through specific ion excitation levels in the solid, and then detecting and counting these photons to create a photon detector. However, the efficiency of direct absorption of photons by trivalent erbium ions was not high. It was not until 1966 that scientists developed erbium lasers by indirectly capturing optical signals through auxiliary ions and then transferring energy to erbium.
The principle of erbium laser is similar to that of holmium laser, but its energy is much lower than that of holmium laser. An erbium laser with a wavelength of 2940 nanometers can be used to cut soft tissue. Although this type of laser in the mid infrared region has poor penetration ability, it can be quickly absorbed by moisture in human tissues, achieving good results with less energy. It can finely cut, grind, and remove soft tissues, achieving rapid wound healing. It is widely used in laser surgeries such as oral cavity, white cataract, beauty, scar removal, and wrinkle removal.
In 1985, the University of Southampton in the UK and Northeastern University in Japan successfully developed an erbium-doped fiber amplifier. Nowadays, Wuhan Optics Valley in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China is able to independently produce this erbium-doped fiber amplifier and export it to North America, Europe, and other places. This application is one of the greatest inventions in fiber optic communication, as long as a certain proportion of erbium is doped, it can compensate for the loss of optical signals in communication systems. This amplifier is currently the most widely used device in fiber optic communication, capable of transmitting optical signals without weakening.
Post time: Aug-16-2023