Schemes for the generation of multipartite entanglement of remote atoms trapped in separate optical cavities

Based on the interference effect of polarized photons leaking out of separate cavities, we propose schemes for the generation of the N-atom Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state, three-atom W state and a genuine four-atom entangled state vertical bar chi >. In these schemes, each of the atoms is trapped separately in a remote optical cavity, and the possible spontaneous channels induced by the excited atoms lead to the coherent superposition of the states of the atoms. The desired multipartite entangled states can be generated with a certain success probability by the subsequent detection of the polarized photons in different modes. The schemes would be useful steps towards long-distance quantum communication, distributed quantum computation and constructing remote quantum information processing networks.