What does HO mean?

HO is the rare earth element holmium.

Holmium has an atomic number of 67 and an atomic weight of 164.93032. The element name comes from the birthplace of the discoverer. Holmium In 1878, Thorit discovered holmium from the spectrum of erbium earth. The following year, Clive of Sweden used chemical methods to separate holmium from erbium earth.

Holmium is generally used as an additive for metal halide lamps. The metal halide lamp is a gas discharge lamp. It is developed on the basis of high-pressure mercury lamps. Its characteristic is that the bulb is filled with various Rare earth halides.

At present, rare earth iodide is mainly used, which emits different spectral colors during gas discharge. The working substance used in holmium lamps is holmium iodide, which can obtain a higher concentration of metal atoms in the arc zone, thus greatly improving the radiation efficiency.

Extended information:

Holmium can be used in laser surgery.

Holmium laser surgery uses yttrium aluminum garnet (YAG) as the activation medium, a laser crystal (Cr) doped with sensitizing ions chromium (Cr), energy transfer ions thulium (Tm), and activated ion holmium (Ho). :Tm:Ho:YAG) is a new type of laser produced by a pulsed solid laser device. It can be used in surgeries in urology, ENT, dermatology, gynecology and other departments.

Compared with commonly used extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy and pneumatic ballistic lithotripsy, holmium laser lithotripsy has strong safety and wide applicability.

Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy uses a hydraulic or electromagnetic shock wave generator to emit high-energy shock waves, which penetrate the human body and focus on urinary tract stones in the body, releasing energy to crush the stones, and the stone fragments are naturally expelled.

This machine requires accurate positioning of X-ray or B-ultrasound. The application of holmium-holmium laser has brought the treatment of urinary tract stones to a new level.

Baidu Encyclopedia——Holmium