Entanglement and quantum teleportation with multi-atom ensembles

Atomic ensembles containing a large number of atoms have been proved to be an effective medium for quantum-state (quantum information) engineering and processing via their coupling with multi-photon light pulses. The general mechanism of this coupling, which involves continuous quantum variables for light and atoms, is described. The efficient quantum interface between light and atoms has led to the recent demonstration of an entangled state of two macroscopic atomic objects, more precisely two caesium gas samples. Based on this result, a proposal for teleportation of an entangled state of two atomic samples (entanglement swapping) is presented.