We present a simplified version of a repeater protocol in a cold neutral-atom ensemble with Rydberg excitations optimized for two-node entanglement generation and describe a protocol for quantum teleportation. Our proposal draws from previous proposals [B. Zhao et al., Phys. Rev. A 81, 052329 (2010); Y. Han et al., Phys. Rev. A 81, 052311 (2010)] that described efficient and robust protocols for long-distance entanglement with many nodes. Using realistic experimental values, we predict an entanglement generation rate of $\sim 25\mathrm{Hz}$ and a teleportation rate of $\sim 5\mathrm{Hz}$. Our predicted rates match the current state-of-the-art experiments for entanglement generation and teleportation between quantum memories. With improved efficiencies we predict entanglement generation and teleportation rates of $\sim 7.8$ and $\sim 3.6$ kHz, respectively, representing a two-order-of-magnitude improvement over the currently realized values. Cold-atom ensembles with Rydberg excitations are promising candidates for repeater nodes because collective effects in the ensemble can be used to deterministically generate a long-lived ground-state memory which may be efficiently mapped onto a directionally emitted single photon.

• Received 30 October 2015

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.93.042301