Studies of the 1S0-3P0 transition in atomic Yb for optical clocks and qubit arrays

Yb and Sr are both strong candidates for an optical lattice clock as well as for creating useful qubits. Both atoms have experimentally accessible energy level transitions, allowing the atoms to be readily laser-cooled and trapped, and in the case of Yb, Bose-Einstein condensed. While the Sr clock transition has been studied extensively, both in and out of an optical lattice, the same transition in Yb has thus far remained unexplored experimentally. Here we report the direct excitation of the 578 nm ¹S₀-³P₀ transition in odd isotope ^171,173Yb. We also discuss the possible application of this type of transitions in making qubits for quantum computation and a clock scheme based on three-photon transition in an even isotope.