Deterministic Quantum Repeater with Single Atoms in Cavities

Abstract: Efficient quantum repeaters are needed to combat photon losses in fibers in future quantum networks. Single atom coupled with photonic cavity offer a great platform for photon-atom gate. Here I propose a quantum repeater scheme with deterministic entanglement generation and entanglement swapping based on photon-atom gates. It can be implemented with various types of atomic systems and require much less experimental complexity compared with other repeater protocols. With current available experimental techniques and reasonable improvements, high entanglement distribution rates can be achieved. A multiplexing configuration of 5-10 single atoms in cavities, secret key rates in order of 100s Hz to kHz can be achieved for communication distance of 1000km, and a few Hz to 10s Hz can be achieved for communication distance of 10000km with longer atomic coherence time and lower photon-atom gate error rate. This proposal paves the way to demonstrate efficient entanglement distribution with quantum repeaters in near future.