Quantum State Transfer and Entanglement Distribution among Distant Nodes in a Quantum Network

J. I. Cirac; P. Zoller; H. J. Kimble; H. Mabuchi

doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.3221

Quantum State Transfer and Entanglement Distribution among Distant Nodes in a Quantum Network

J. I. Cirac, P. Zoller, H. J. Kimble, and H. Mabuchi

Phys. Rev. Lett. 78, 3221 – Published 21 April 1997

Abstract

We propose a scheme to utilize photons for ideal quantum transmission between atoms located at spatially separated nodes of a quantum network. The transmission protocol employs special laser pulses that excite an atom inside an optical cavity at the sending node so that its state is mapped into a time-symmetric photon wave packet that will enter a cavity at the receiving node and be absorbed by an atom there with unit probability. Implementation of our scheme would enable reliable transfer or sharing of entanglement among spatially distant atoms.

Received 12 November 1996

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.78.3221

Authors & Affiliations

J. I. Cirac^1,2, P. Zoller^1,2, H. J. Kimble^1,3, and H. Mabuchi^1,3

¹Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California at Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106-4030
²Institut für Theoretische Physik, Universität Innsbruck, Technikerstrasse 25, A-6020 Innsbruck, Austria
³Norman Bridge Laboratory of Physics 12-33, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, California 91125