Single ion spectroscopy of four metastable state clear-out transitions in Yb II: isotope shifts and hyperfine structure

Abstract

We present spectroscopic data for four metastable state clear-out transitions between 399 nm and 412 nm for all even long-lived isotopes of Yb$^+$ as well as their hyperfine structure in $^{171}$Yb$^+$. The strong $^2 \rm{D}_{3/2} \rightarrow {}^1[1/2]_{1/2}$ transition at 412 nm represents an attractive alternative for the standard 935 nm repumper used in cooling and trapping experiments, while the transition to the $^3[3/2]_{3/2}$ state at 411 nm clears out the $^2 $F$_{7/2}$ state, for which typically 638 nm or 760 nm are used. These two alternative transitions simplify the experimental setup by removing the need for infrared optics to cool and manipulate Yb$^+$ and may be of particular interest when considering integrated photonics solutions. We also present data for the transitions $^2 $D$_{3/2} \rightarrow {}^3[1/2]_{3/2}$ at 399 nm, and $^2 $D$_{3/2} \rightarrow {}^1[5/2]_{5/2}$ at 410 nm including decay branching ratios of the excited states.