Protocol for hybrid entanglement between a trapped atom and a quantum dot

We propose a quantum optical interface between an atomic and solid-state system. We show that quantum states in a single trapped atom can be entangled with the states of a semiconductor quantum dot through their common interaction with a classical laser field. The interference and detection of the resulting scattered photons can then herald the entanglement of the disparate atomic and solid-state quantum bits. We develop a protocol that can succeed despite a significant mismatch in the radiative characteristics of the two matter-based qubits. We study in detail a particular case of this interface applied to a single trapped ¹⁷¹Yb⁺ ion and a cavity-coupled InAs semiconductor quantum dot. Entanglement fidelity and success rates are found to be robust to a broad range of experimental nonideal effects such as dispersion mismatch, atom recoil, and multiphoton scattering. We conclude that it should be possible to produce highly entangled states of these complementary qubit systems under realistic experimental conditions. ©2009 The American Physical Society