Ytterbium

Ytterbium (Yb) — 10-Year Trends

As of 2026-09-25 · the last 10 years

Research intensity is currently at about 95% of the element's all-time peak, a peak that occurred in 2024 within this window.

Research intensity ran from about 79% of the element's own all-time peak in 2016 to about 95% in 2026 — a steady climb, and the all-time peak (2024) falls inside this window. Over the same span its share of research attention across all elements rose. Among the 118 elements, ytterbium has a mid-sized research literature.

The number of papers involving the element rose from about 1,343 in 2016 to about 2,780 in 2025 (2.07x). That matches the growth of the literature as a whole over the same years: the general tide of scientific output, not a surge specific to the element.

The largest share of recent research belongs to Ytterbium-Doped Fiber Amplifiers and High-Power Lasers, a community focused on developing fiber amplifiers, co-doped systems, and high-power laser oscillators, specifically addressing transverse mode instability. Here, ytterbium is a minor presence in a much larger community — about 2% of its papers involve ytterbium. This group holds about 22% of the element's recent research, a steady share compared to the previous period. A key anchor is a 2024 review of recent developments in fiber lasers, cited about 52 times.

A second significant area is Ytterbium Complexes for Circularly Polarized Luminescence, where researchers synthesize ytterbium complexes to study circularly polarized and NIR luminescence. Ytterbium is again a minor presence in a much larger community — about 2% of its papers involve ytterbium. This community accounts for about 8% of the element's recent research, maintaining a steady share. Notable work includes a 2020 study on room temperature magnetoelectric coupling in a molecular ferroelectric ytterbium(III) complex, cited over 190 times.

The third material community is Ytterbium-Doped Fiber Lasers and Pulse Generation, focusing on q-switching and mode-locking techniques to generate ultrashort pulses. Ytterbium is a minor presence in a much larger community — about 1% of its papers involve ytterbium. This group’s share has declined from about 14% to about 8% of the element's recent research. A foundational paper on all polarization-maintaining fiber laser architecture for robust femtosecond pulse generation, published in 2017, has been cited over 310 times.

Overall, the composition of ytterbium research has shifted slightly. While the fiber amplifier and complex chemistry communities have held steady, the pulse generation community has lost share, and the remainder of the element's research—comprising various other smaller groups—has risen to about 62% of the total.

For a deeper look at the current state of ytterbium research, including the last 12 months and executive briefs, explore the element's current-standing reports.