We propose and discuss a scheme for robust and efficient generation of many-particle entanglement in an ensemble of Rydberg atoms with resonant dipole-dipole interactions. It is shown that in the limit of complete dipole blocking, the system is isomorphic to a multimode Jaynes-Cummings model. While dark-state population transfer is not capable of creating entanglement, other adiabatic processes are identified that lead to complex, maximally entangled states, such as the N-particle analog of the Greenberger-Horne-Zeilinger (GHZ) state in a few steps. The process is robust, works for even and odd particle numbers and the characteristic time for entanglement generation scales linearly with N.

• Received 20 November 2001

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.66.032109