Holmium

Holmium is a soft, silvery rare-earth metal with atomic number 67. Its unusually strong magnetic properties and distinctive optical transitions make it useful in specialized materials and lasers.

Holmium laser: A solid-state laser that commonly uses holmium-doped crystals to emit infrared light near 2.1 micrometers. Holmium ions provide the transitions used in this laser, whose wavelength is strongly absorbed by water.
Lanthanide contraction: The gradual decrease in lanthanide atomic and ionic radii across the series as nuclear charge increases. It helps explain holmium’s compact ion and its similarities to neighboring lanthanides.
Per Teodor Cleve: A Swedish chemist who identified holmium in 1879 while studying rare-earth minerals. Cleve recognized holmium in fractions separated from erbia.
Lanthanide: A series of 15 metallic elements from lanthanum through lutetium, characterized by filling of the 4f shell. Holmium is the eleventh member of the lanthanide series.
Neodymium:YAG laser: A solid-state laser using neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet, commonly emitting near-infrared light around 1.064 micrometers. It is a widely used rare-earth laser with a different wavelength and clinical profile from holmium:YAG.
Holmium-doped yttrium aluminum garnet: A laser crystal in which holmium ions replace some yttrium ions in yttrium aluminum garnet. This host crystal is a common medium for holmium lasers.
4f electron: An electron occupying a 4f orbital, a subshell that shapes the characteristic properties of lanthanides. Holmium’s unpaired 4f electrons produce its strong magnetic moment and narrow optical transitions.
Marc Delafontaine: A Swiss chemist who independently reported evidence for holmium in 1878. His spectroscopic observations preceded Cleve’s fuller identification of the element.
Dysprosium: A lanthanide with atomic number 66, known for strong magnetic behavior and use in high-performance magnets. Dysprosium immediately precedes holmium and shares its unusual magnetic character.
Thulium laser: A laser using thulium ions as its active medium, often emitting near 2 micrometers. Its wavelength and tissue interactions overlap with holmium lasers, but its pulse and absorption characteristics differ.

Linked from 5 pages