Preparation and detection of a $^{137}$Ba$^{+}$ hyperfine qubit

We report the initialization and state detection of $^{137}$Ba$^{+}$ hyperfine qubits. We load $^{137}$Ba$^{+}$ into a linear Paul trap by direct photoionization with a Xe discharge lamp. The qubit is initialized by optically pumping into the magnetic field insensitive hyperfine ground state (F=2 m$_{f}$=0). State selective shelving to the metastable D$_{5/2}$ state is accomplished by adiabatic rapid passage using a 1762 nm fiber laser stabilized to a high-finesse cavity, a process which is used for high efficiency state detection. Single qubit rotations are accomplished by RF pulses at the hyperfine splitting (8.037 GHz).