Table 3.

General properties of natural Yb and molecular ${\text{Yb}}_2{\text{O}}_3$ targets (Haynes 2016) 9

Target properties	Yb	${\text{Yb}}_2{\text{O}}_3$
Molecular weight (g/mol)	173.04	394.08
Density (${\text{g/cm}}^3$)	6.9	9.2
Melting point ($_{}^{\circ }\text{C}$)	819	2355
Specific heat capacity (J/g-K)	0.155	n.a
Thermal conductivity (W/m-K)	38.5	n.a
Mean excitation potential (eV)	684	512.4
Range of 17.9 MeV ${\text{D}}^{+}$ (mm)	0.75	0.49

The range of 17.9 MeV deuterons is calculated using equation 9