Diode-laser system for high-resolution spectroscopy of the 2S1/2 → 2F7/2 octupole transition in 171Yb+

A diode-laser system at 467 nm is built in order to drive the S-2(1/2) -> F-2(7/2) electric octupole transition at 467 nm in Yb-171(+). The frequency of the laser is stabilized to a reference cavity made of ultra low expansion glass and is demonstrated to have a relative instability of better than 2 x 10(-15) at 1 s and a stable linear drift rate with variations below 10 mHz/s over several hours. The system is applied for spectroscopy of a single trapped laser-cooled Yb-171(+) ion. We obtain excitation spectra of the octupole transition with a resonant excitation probability of about 65% and an essentially Fourier transform-limited resolution of 13 Hz.