Metastable Qubit Operations in ¹⁷¹Yb⁺

The metastable ("m-type") qubit defined on the zero-field hyperfine clock states in the long-lived ²F_7/2⁰ manifold in ¹⁷¹Yb⁺ gives a promising pathway to low cross-talk, high fidelity multi-qubit operations using the same ion species via the recently proposed "omg blueprint'' for atomic quantum processing. We describe heralded state preparation, single qubit operations, and state measurement in the m-type qubit, achieving a SPAM infidelity of 4⁺³_-2 X 10^-4 and provide empirical, quantitative limits on the effect of direct illumination by ground state ("g-type'') qubit light.