Naturally occurring ytterbium (70Yb) is composed of seven stable isotopes:[n 1] 168Yb, 170Yb–174Yb, and 176Yb, with 174Yb being the most abundant (31.83% natural abundance).
This element also has 18 meta states, with the most stable being 169mYb (t1/2 46 seconds).
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.