Ytterbium
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Ytterbium is a chemical element; it has symbol Yb and atomic number 70. It is a metal, the fourteenth element in the lanthanide series, which is the basis of the relative stability of its +2 oxidation
Euxenite
Ytterbium(III) oxide
Jean Charles Galissard de Marignac
Optical clock
Videos
Optical clocks are a subset of atomic clocks and are based on transitions that emit electromagnetic radiation in the range of 200 nm to 1000 nm. Optical light oscillates at frequencies near 500 THz, m
One of NIST's 2013 pair of ytterbium optical lattice atomic clocks
JILA's 2017 three-dimensional (3-D) quantum gas atomic clock consists of a grid of light formed by three pairs of laser beams. A stack of two tables is used to configure optical components around a vacuum chamber. Shown here is the upper table, where lenses and other optics are mounted. A blue laser beam excites a cube-shaped cloud of strontium atoms located behind the round window in the middle of the table. Strontium atoms fluoresce strongly when excited with blue light.