Schemes for preparing atomic qubit cluster states in cavity QED

Two schemes are proposed for generating atomic qubits cluster states in cavity quantum electrodynamics (QED). In the first scheme, only two-atom-cavity interactions are involved, and cluster states can be directly generated by using constructed two-qubit controlled phase gates. The second scheme needs the assistance of additional single-qubit rotations, but takes less time than the first one for two-atom operations in the cavity. In this scheme, two projective operators are constructed to prepare two-dimension or more complicated configurations of cluster states. Both schemes are insensitive to the cavity decay due to the fact that the cavity is only virtually excited during the interaction between atoms and the cavity. The idea can also be applied to the ion trap system.