Ytterbium

Overview

Ytterbium is element 70, a heavy rare-earth metal with a density of 6.90 g/cm³ and a melting point of 824 °C.¹ Despite its name it is not especially rare: it is the 43rd most abundant element on Earth, more common than tin, bromine, uranium or arsenic.¹ Its average crustal concentration is about 3.2 parts per million.²

Ytterbium's uses are small in volume but technologically important: fiber lasers for industrial marking and engraving, optical atomic clocks, catalysts, and production of the medical isotope lutetium-177.¹³⁴ It is on the US 2025 List of Critical Minerals and is covered by the heavy rare earths entry on the EU critical raw materials list.⁵⁶

Where it comes from

Ytterbium is found principally in monazite and is separated from the other rare earths by ion exchange and solvent extraction.¹ The US government records ytterbium as a potential by-product or co-product of other rare earths, iron ore and heavy mineral sands.⁵ Heavy rare earths are elevated in some ores, including ion-adsorption clays, and the clay deposits of southern China have been the world's main source of heavy rare earths.⁷²

The US Geological Survey (USGS) does not report ytterbium production by country. For all rare earths together, world mine output was an estimated 390,000 t of rare-earth oxide (REO) in 2025, of which China produced about 270,000 t.⁸ The chart covers all rare earths, not ytterbium alone.

• China270,000 t · 69%
• United States51,000 t · 13%
• Australia29,000 t · 7%
• Burma22,000 t · 6%
• Thailand4,800 t · 1%
• India2,900 t · <1%
• Madagascar2,700 t · <1%
• Russia2,600 t · <1%
• Other countries4,310 t · 1%

Covers all rare earths combined, in rare-earth-oxide terms; USGS does not publish ytterbium output by country. World total is the USGS rounded figure; country figures sum to 389,310 t. USGS estimated Burma, Thailand and Madagascar from Chinese import data. Source: Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Rare Earths

What it is used for

• Fiber lasers. Ytterbium is used in fiber laser amplifiers for marking and engraving, and in tunable lasers.¹ Industrial and medical lasers are a recognized end use of the heavy rare earths.⁷
• Atomic clocks. In 2013 the US National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) reported ytterbium optical lattice clocks, each using about 10,000 ytterbium atoms trapped in laser light, with ticks stable to within less than two parts in a quintillion, about ten times better than earlier records.³
• Lutetium-177 production. Irradiating ytterbium-176 in a reactor yields ytterbium-177, which decays to lutetium-177; the lutetium is then separated chemically as a no-carrier-added product for cancer radiopharmaceuticals.⁴
• Other uses include industrial catalysts, where ytterbium is increasingly replacing catalysts considered too toxic, memory devices, and devices that convert energy in solar cells.¹

Grades and forms

Ytterbium is traded mainly as high-purity oxide; USGS tracks ytterbium oxide of at least 99.99% purity.⁷ Lutetium-ytterbium alloy has been on China's export control list since April 2025 as a lutetium item.⁹

Trade and policy

The United States relied on imports for all of its heavy-rare-earth compounds and metals in 2025. Shipping records for 2021–24 show that ytterbium compounds and metals came from China (86%), Germany (4%), Chile (4%), the Republic of Korea (3%) and other countries (3%); material from Chile, Germany and Korea was derived from concentrates and intermediates produced elsewhere.⁷

USGS likewise reports that China suspended the October measures for one year, while the April 2025 controls remained in effect.⁷

This section is factual background, not legal or trade-compliance advice.

Recycling and substitution

Only small quantities of heavy rare earths are recycled, mainly from permanent magnets.⁷ Substitutes exist for some heavy-rare-earth applications but are generally less effective.⁷ For lutetium-177, the direct route from lutetium-176 avoids ytterbium targets altogether, but produces lutetium-177 mixed with unconverted lutetium-176.⁴

Sources

1. Ytterbium: element information, properties and uses. Royal Society of Chemistry, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

2. The Rare-Earth Elements: Vital to Modern Technologies and Lifestyles (Fact Sheet 2014–3078). U.S. Geological Survey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²

3. NIST Ytterbium Atomic Clocks Set Record for Stability. National Institute of Standards and Technology, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²

4. What is lutetium-177?. NRG PALLAS, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³

5. Final 2025 List of Critical Minerals. Federal Register, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²

6. Regulation (EU) 2024/1252 (Critical Raw Materials Act). EUR-Lex, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

7. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Rare Earths (Heavy). U.S. Geological Survey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

8. Mineral Commodity Summaries 2026: Rare Earths. U.S. Geological Survey, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

9. Announcement No. 18 of 2025 on implementing export control on some medium and heavy rare earth related items. Ministry of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²

10. China Suspends Export Controls on Certain Critical Minerals-Related Items. Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩

11. China Temporarily Suspends Export Controls on Key Raw Materials Including Rare Earths, Lithium Batteries, and Diamond. CIRS Group, accessed 2026-10-03. ↩ ↩²