Based on the quantum Zeno effect [B. Misra and E. C. G. Sudarshan, J. Math. Phys. 18, 756 (1977)], we propose a scheme to achieve three-dimensional (3D) entanglement between two distant five-level atoms. In our scheme, the two atoms are trapped individually in two spatially-separated double-mode cavities connected by an optical fiber. It is found that the effective quantum Zeno dynamics of the composite cavity-fiber-cavity coupled system gives rise to the deterministic creation of the 3D entangled state with high fidelity. Moreover, only one step operation is required to complete the generation of the 3D entangled state. The numerical simulations clearly show that the proposed scheme is robust against the deviation of the system parameters and insensitive to various decoherence factors, including atomic spontaneous emissions, cavity decays and fiber photon leakages. We justify our scheme by considering the experimental feasibility within the currently available technology.

• Received 7 April 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.87.062316