Naturally occurring ytterbium (₇₀Yb) is composed of 7 stable isotopes,However, all seven of the isotopes are observationally stable, meaning that they are predicted to be radioactive but decay has not been observed yet. ¹⁶⁸Yb–¹⁷⁶Yb, with ¹⁷⁴Yb being the most abundant (31.83% natural abundance). Twenty-seven radioisotopes have been characterized, with the most stable being ¹⁶⁹Yb with a half-life of 32.026 days, ¹⁷⁵Yb with a half-life of 4.185 days, and ¹⁶⁶Yb with a half-life of 56.7 hours. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than 2 hours, and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than 20 minutes. This element also has 12 meta states, with the most stable being ^169mYb (t_1/2 46 seconds). The isotopes of ytterbium range in atomic weight from 147.967 atomic mass unit, u (¹⁴⁸Yb) to 180.9562 u (¹⁸¹Yb). The primary decay mode before the most abundant stable isotope, ¹⁷⁴Yb is electron capture, and the primary mode after is beta emission. The primary decay products before ¹⁷⁴Yb are isotopes of thulium, and the primary products after are isotopes of lutetium. Of interest to modern quantum optics, the different ytterbium isotopes follow either Bose–Einstein statistics or Fermi–Dirac statistics, leading to interesting behavior in optical lattices.

List of isotopes

, - , ¹⁴⁸Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 78 , 147.96742(64)# , 250# ms , beta decay, β⁺ , ¹⁴⁸Tm , 0+ , , , - , ¹⁴⁹Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 79 , 148.96404(54)# , 0.7(2) s , β⁺ , ¹⁴⁹Tm , (1/2+, 3/2+) , , , - , ¹⁵⁰Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 80 , 149.95842(43)# , 700# ms [>200 ns] , β⁺ , ¹⁵⁰Tm , 0+ , , , - , rowspan=2, ¹⁵¹Yb , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 70 , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 81 , rowspan=2, 150.95540(32) , rowspan=2, 1.6(5) s , β⁺ , ¹⁵¹Tm , rowspan=2, (1/2+) , rowspan=2, , rowspan=2, , - , β⁺, proton emission, p (rare) , ¹⁵⁰Er , - , rowspan=2 style="text-indent:1em" , ^151m1Yb , rowspan=2 colspan="3" style="text-indent:2em" , 750(100)# keV , rowspan=2, 1.6(5) s , β⁺ , ¹⁵¹Tm , rowspan=2, (11/2−) , rowspan=2, , rowspan=2, , - , β⁺, p (rare) , ¹⁵⁰Er , - , style="text-indent:1em" , ^151m2Yb , colspan="3" style="text-indent:2em" , 1790(500)# keV , 2.6(7) μs , , , 19/2−# , , , - , style="text-indent:1em" , ^151m3Yb , colspan="3" style="text-indent:2em" , 2450(500)# keV , 20(1) μs , , , 27/2−# , , , - , rowspan=2, ¹⁵²Yb , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 70 , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 82 , rowspan=2, 151.95029(22) , rowspan=2, 3.04(6) s , β⁺ , ¹⁵²Tm , rowspan=2, 0+ , rowspan=2, , rowspan=2, , - , β⁺, p (rare) , ¹⁵¹Er , - , rowspan=3, ¹⁵³Yb , rowspan=3 style="text-align:right" , 70 , rowspan=3 style="text-align:right" , 83 , rowspan=3, 152.94948(21)# , rowspan=3, 4.2(2) s , alpha decay, α (50%) , ¹⁴⁹Er , rowspan=3, 7/2−# , rowspan=3, , rowspan=3, , - , β⁺ (50%) , ¹⁵³Tm , - , β⁺, p (.008%) , ¹⁵²Er , - , style="text-indent:1em" , ^153mYb , colspan="3" style="text-indent:2em" , 2700(100) keV , 15(1) μs , , , (27/2−) , , , - , rowspan=2, ¹⁵⁴Yb , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 70 , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 84 , rowspan=2, 153.946394(19) , rowspan=2, 0.409(2) s , α (92.8%) , ¹⁵⁰Er , rowspan=2, 0+ , rowspan=2, , rowspan=2, , - , β⁺ (7.119%) , ¹⁵⁴Tm , - , rowspan=2, ¹⁵⁵Yb , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 70 , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 85 , rowspan=2, 154.945782(18) , rowspan=2, 1.793(19) s , α (89%) , ¹⁵¹Er , rowspan=2, (7/2−) , rowspan=2, , rowspan=2, , - , β⁺ (11%) , ¹⁵⁵Tm , - , rowspan=2, ¹⁵⁶Yb , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 70 , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 86 , rowspan=2, 155.942818(12) , rowspan=2, 26.1(7) s , β⁺ (90%) , ¹⁵⁶Tm , rowspan=2, 0+ , rowspan=2, , rowspan=2, , - , α (10%) , ¹⁵²Er , - , rowspan=2, ¹⁵⁷Yb , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 70 , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 87 , rowspan=2, 156.942628(11) , rowspan=2, 38.6(10) s , β⁺ (99.5%) , ¹⁵⁷Tm , rowspan=2, 7/2− , rowspan=2, , rowspan=2, , - , α (.5%) , ¹⁵³Er , - , rowspan=2, ¹⁵⁸Yb , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 70 , rowspan=2 style="text-align:right" , 88 , rowspan=2, 157.939866(9) , rowspan=2, 1.49(13) min , β⁺ (99.99%) , ¹⁵⁸Tm , rowspan=2, 0+ , rowspan=2, , rowspan=2, , - , α (.0021%) , ¹⁵⁴Er , - , ¹⁵⁹Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 89 , 158.94005(2) , 1.67(9) min , β⁺ , ¹⁵⁹Tm , 5/2(−) , , , - , ¹⁶⁰Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 90 , 159.937552(18) , 4.8(2) min , β⁺ , ¹⁶⁰Tm , 0+ , , , - , ¹⁶¹Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 91 , 160.937902(17) , 4.2(2) min , β⁺ , ¹⁶¹Tm , 3/2− , , , - , ¹⁶²Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 92 , 161.935768(17) , 18.87(19) min , β⁺ , ¹⁶²Tm , 0+ , , , - , ¹⁶³Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 93 , 162.936334(17) , 11.05(25) min , β⁺ , ¹⁶³Tm , 3/2− , , , - , ¹⁶⁴Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 94 , 163.934489(17) , 75.8(17) min , Electron capture, EC , ¹⁶⁴Tm , 0+ , , , - , ¹⁶⁵Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 95 , 164.93528(3) , 9.9(3) min , β⁺ , ¹⁶⁵Tm , 5/2− , , , - , ¹⁶⁶Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 96 , 165.933882(9) , 56.7(1) h , EC , ¹⁶⁶Tm , 0+ , , , - , ¹⁶⁷Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 97 , 166.934950(5) , 17.5(2) min , β⁺ , ¹⁶⁷Tm , 5/2− , , , - , ¹⁶⁸Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 98 , 167.933897(5) , colspan=3 align=center, Observationally StableBelieved to undergo α decay to ¹⁶⁴Er or β⁺β⁺ decay to ¹⁶⁸Er with a half-life over 130×10¹² years , 0+ , 0.0013(1) , , - , ¹⁶⁹Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 99 , 168.935190(5) , 32.026(5) d , EC , ¹⁶⁹Tm , 7/2+ , , , - , style="text-indent:1em" , ^169mYb , colspan="3" style="text-indent:2em" , 24.199(3) keV , 46(2) s , Isomeric transition, IT , ¹⁶⁹Yb , 1/2− , , , - , ¹⁷⁰Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 100 , 169.9347618(26) , colspan=3 align=center, Observationally StableBelieved to undergo α decay to ¹⁶⁶Er , 0+ , 0.0304(15) , , - , style="text-indent:1em" , ^170mYb , colspan="3" style="text-indent:2em" , 1258.46(14) keV , 370(15) ns , , , 4− , , , - , ¹⁷¹Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 101 , 170.9363258(26) , colspan=3 align=center, Observationally StableBelieved to undergo α decay to ¹⁶⁷Er , 1/2− , 0.1428(57) , , - , style="text-indent:1em" , ^171m1Yb , colspan="3" style="text-indent:2em" , 95.282(2) keV , 5.25(24) ms , IT , ¹⁷¹Yb , 7/2+ , , , - , style="text-indent:1em" , ^171m2Yb , colspan="3" style="text-indent:2em" , 122.416(2) keV , 265(20) ns , , , 5/2− , , , - , ¹⁷²Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 102 , 171.9363815(26) , colspan=3 align=center, Observationally StableBelieved to undergo α decay to ¹⁶⁸Er , 0+ , 0.2183(67) , , - , ¹⁷³Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 103 , 172.9382108(26) , colspan=3 align=center, Observationally StableBelieved to undergo α decay to ¹⁶⁹Er , 5/2− , 0.1613(27) , , - , style="text-indent:1em" , ^173mYb , colspan="3" style="text-indent:2em" , 398.9(5) keV , 2.9(1) μs , , , 1/2− , , , - , ¹⁷⁴Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 104 , 173.9388621(26) , colspan=3 align=center, Observationally StableBelieved to undergo α decay to ¹⁷⁰Er , 0+ , 0.3183(92) , , - , ¹⁷⁵Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 105 , 174.9412765(26) , 4.185(1) d , β⁻ , ¹⁷⁵Lu , 7/2− , , , - , style="text-indent:1em" , ^175mYb , colspan="3" style="text-indent:2em" , 514.865(4) keV , 68.2(3) ms , , , 1/2− , , , - , ¹⁷⁶Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 106 , 175.9425717(28) , colspan=3 align=center, Observationally StableBelieved to undergo α decay to ¹⁷²Er or β⁻β⁻ decay to ¹⁷⁶Hf with a half-life over 160×10¹⁵ years , 0+ , 0.1276(41) , , - , style="text-indent:1em" , ^176mYb , colspan="3" style="text-indent:2em" , 1050.0(3) keV , 11.4(3) s , , , (8)− , , , - , ¹⁷⁷Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 107 , 176.9452608(28) , 1.911(3) h , β⁻ , ¹⁷⁷Lu , (9/2+) , , , - , style="text-indent:1em" , ^177mYb , colspan="3" style="text-indent:2em" , 331.5(3) keV , 6.41(2) s , IT , ¹⁷⁷Yb , (1/2−) , , , - , ¹⁷⁸Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 108 , 177.946647(11) , 74(3) min , β⁻ , ¹⁷⁸Lu , 0+ , , , - , ¹⁷⁹Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 109 , 178.95017(32)# , 8.0(4) min , β⁻ , ¹⁷⁹Lu , (1/2−) , , , - , ¹⁸⁰Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 110 , 179.95233(43)# , 2.4(5) min , β⁻ , ¹⁸⁰Lu , 0+ , , , - , ¹⁸¹Yb , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 111 , 180.95615(43)# , 1# min , β⁻ , ¹⁸¹Lu , 3/2−# , , , - , ¹⁸²YbCluster decay daughter of ''²³²Th'' , style="text-align:right" , 70 , style="text-align:right" , 112 , , > 160 ns , β⁻ , ¹⁸²Lu , 0+ , ,

References

* Isotope masses from: ** * Isotopic compositions and standard atomic masses from: ** ** * Half-life, spin, and isomer data selected from the following sources. ** ** ** {{Authority control Isotopes of ytterbium, Ytterbium Lists of isotopes by element, Ytterbium