  We report the first efficient trapping of rare-earth Yb atoms with a
high-power violet laser diode (LD). An injection-locked violet LD with a 25 mW
frequency-stabilized output was used for the magneto-optical trapping (MOT) of
fermionic as well as bosonic Yb isotopes. A typical number of $4\times 10^6$
atoms for $^{174}$Yb with a trap density of $\sim 1\times10^8/$cm$^3$ was
obtained. A 10 mW violet external-cavity LD (ECLD) was used for the
one-dimensional (1D) slowing of an effusive Yb atomic beam without a Zeeman
slower resulting in a 35-fold increase in the number of trapped atoms. The
overall characteristics of our compact violet MOT, e.g., the loss time of 1 s,
the loading time of 400 ms, and the cloud temperature of 0.7 mK, are comparable
to those in previously reported violet Yb MOTs, yet with a greatly reduced cost
and complexity of the experiment.
