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

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 ^171Yb^+. The strong ² D₃/₂ ¹1/2₁/₂ 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 ³3/2₃/₂ state at 411 nm clears out the ² F₇/₂ 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 D₃/₂ ³1/2₃/₂ at 399 nm, and ² D₃/₂ ¹5/2₅/₂ at 410 nm including decay branching ratios of the excited states.