Direct excitation of the forbidden clock transition in neutral 174Yb atoms confined to an optical lattice

We report direct single-laser excitation of the strictly forbidden (6s(2))S-1(0)<->(6s6p)P-3(0) clock transition in Yb-174 atoms confined to a 1D optical lattice. A small (similar to 1.2 mT) static magnetic field was used to induce a nonzero electric dipole transition probability between the clock states at 578.42 nm. Narrow resonance linewidths of 20 Hz (FWHM) with high contrast were observed, demonstrating a resonance quality factor of 2.6x10(13). The previously unknown ac Stark shift-canceling (magic) wavelength was determined to be 759.35 +/- 0.02 nm. This method for using the metrologically superior even isotope can be easily implemented in current Yb and Sr lattice clocks and can create new clock possibilities in other alkaline-earth-like atoms such as Mg and Ca.