Generation of hybrid four-qubit entangled decoherence-free states assisted by the cavity-QED system

•Four-qubit decoherence-free entanglements are generated assisted by quantum dot.•This deterministic scheme uses single-photon resources.•The hybrid states may be applied up to different requirements of photons and spins.

We propose three effective protocols to generate four-qubit entangled decoherence-free states assisted by the cavity-QED system. These schemes are based on optical selection rules realized with a single electron charged self-assembled GaAs/InAs quantum dot in a micropillar resonator. Compared with previous photonic protocols, the first scheme is to replace the entangled-state resources with much simpler single-photon resources and has a deterministic success probability. Moreover, the cavity-QED system may be used to generate four-spin entangled decoherence-free states and hybrid four-qubit of spin-photon entangled decoherence-free states. These states may be applied up to different requirements because of different superiorities of photons and spins. All schemes may be implemented with current physical technologies.