Lifetime measurements of the 4f(14)5d metastable states in single ytterbium ions - art. no. 022507

The ytterbium ion has a rich level structure of low-lying states, and is on e of the most widely used in experiments with trapped ions. We have measure d the radiative lifetimes for the two 4f(14)5d metastable states using sing le ytterbium ions confined in a rf trap. The obtained lifetimes for D-3/2 a nd D-5/2 states are 52.7(2.4) and 7.0(0.4) ms, respectively. The results ar e in good agreement with previously measured values, but differ significant ly from theoretical estimates. The P-1/2 branching ratio into D-3/2 has als o been obtained from the experiment to be 0.0483 with a 9% uncertainty.