  High-power and narrow-linewidth laser light is a vital tool for atomic
physics, being used for example in laser cooling and trapping and precision
spectroscopy. Here we produce Watt-level laser radiation at 457.49 nm and
460.86 nm of respective relevance for the cooling transitions of cadmium and
strontium atoms. This is achieved via the frequency doubling of a kHz-linewidth
vertical-external-cavity surface-emitting laser (VECSEL), which is based on a
novel gain chip design enabling lasing at > 2 W in the 915-928 nm region.
Following an additional doubling stage, spectroscopy of the $^1S_0\to{}^1P_1$
cadmium transition at 228.89 nm is performed on an atomic beam, with all the
transitions from all eight natural isotopes observed in a single continuous
sweep of more than 4 GHz in the deep ultraviolet. The absolute value of the
transition frequency of Cd-114 and the isotope shifts relative to this
transition are determined, with values for some of these shifts provided for
the first time
