Applications
Holmium has the highest magnetic strength of any element, and therefore is used to create the strongest artificially generated magnetic fields, when placed within high-strength magnets as a magnetic pole piece (also called a magnetic flux concentrator). Since it can absorb nuclear fission-bred neutrons, it is also used in nuclear control rods.
Holmium is used in yttrium-iron-garnet (YIG)- and yttrium-lanthanum-fluoride (YLF) solid-state lasers found in microwave equipment (which are in turn found in a variety of medical and dental settings). Holmium lasers emit at 2.08 micrometres, and therefore are safe to eyes. They are used in medical, dental, and fiber-optical applications.
Holmium is one of the colorants used for cubic zirconia and glass, providing yellow or red coloring. Glass containing holmium oxide and holmium oxide solutions (usually in perchloric acid) have sharp optical absorption peaks in the spectral range 200–900 nm. They are therefore used as a calibration standard for optical spectrophotometers, and are available commercially.
The radioactive but long-lived Ho-166m1 (see "Isotopes" above) is used in calibration of gamma ray spectrometers.
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