Holmium is the chemical element with atomic
number 67, symbol Ho.
Holmium is a metal from the rare earth group. Like other lanthanides, it is
malleable and ductile at room temperature, oxidizes slowly in dry air but
quickly in humid air.
The name of this element comes from the Latinization after apheresis of the
toponym Stockholm, birthplace of its discoverer Per Thodor Cleve6.
It is extracted, like most rare earths, from monazite which contains about 0.05%
It has the highest magnetic moment of all the elements: 10.6 µB which allows it
to be used to concentrate the magnetic fluxes.
The Bohr µB magneton is a reference unit, corresponding to 0.927 3 〜 10−23 J / T
(= J / (Wb / m2) = A ， m2).
Among the rare earth elements, it is one of the only ones to be really rare ...
Its price is around $ 1,000 per kg7.
Isotopes
Main article: Isotopes of holmium.
Holmium has only one stable isotope, 165Ho. Among its radioisotopes, the one
with the longest half-life is 163Ho, with a half-life equal to 4,570 years. All
the others have half-lives of less than two days in their stable state (the
166mHo isomer, however, has a half-life of around 1,200 years).
Few specific applications despite unusual magnetic characteristics.
Laser: YAG lasers (yttrium-aluminum garnet), doped with holmium compounds,
provide infrared light (2.1 µm) and are mainly used for medical purposes.
Glass tinting: holmium oxide gives the glass a specific pink color.
Magnetism: pole pieces for magnets
High temperature superconductive compound: some examples cited including
HoBa2Cu3O7
IBM managed to store a bit of information on a single holmium atom
rhenium germanium zirconium cadmium hafnium
barium lithium beryllium strontium calcium
Tantalum gadolinium samarium yttrium ytterbium
Lutetium praseodymium holmium erbium thulium dysprosium
terbium europium lanthanum cerium neodymium scandium