Metastable Qubit Operations in ¹⁷¹Yb⁺

The use of metastable ("m-type'') qubits in trapped ion experiments allows for the development of single-species ion arrays that eliminate the complications that arise from multi-species trapping. The ²F_7/2 manifold in ¹⁷¹Yb⁺ is well suited to host an m-type qubit due to its year-scale lifetime and large optical frequency separation from transitions used in the operation of the ground state ("g-type") hyperfine qubit. We perform single qubit operations of a zero-field clock state m-type qubit, and quantify its coherence and the effect of g-type qubit lasers on qubit coherence and energy splitting. In addition we report high fidelity SPAM of the m-type qubit by heralded state preparation, and investigate the possibility of directly coupling the m-type qubit to motion via stimulated Raman and electric quadrupole transitions.