Sudden birth of entanglement between two atoms successively passing a thermal cavity

We study the dynamics of entanglement of two initially separate atoms passing through a cavity one after another by employing the concurrence and negativity. The effects of the atomic coherence and mean photon number on the time evolution of atom-atom entanglement are examined when the field is initially in thermal field. We show that the phenomenon of sudden birth of entanglement occurs in some certain conditions and the threshold time for the creation of the entanglement can be controlled by the atomic coherence and mean photon number of the field. It is also shown that the entanglement between two atoms can be created even if the two atoms are initially in excited states. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.