Preparation of Cluster States of Atomic Qubits in Cavity QED

We propose an optical scheme to generate cluster states of atomic qubits, with each trapped in separate optical cavity, via atom-cavity-laser interaction. The quantum information of each qubit is encoded on the degenerate ground states of the atom, hence the entanglement between them is relatively stable against spontaneous emission. A single-photon source and two classical fields are employed in the present scheme. By controlling the sequence and time of atom-cavity-laser interaction, we show that the atomic cluster states can be produced deterministically