Entanglement enhancement and postselection for two atoms interacting with thermal light

Abstract

The evolution of entanglement for two identical two-level atoms coupled to a resonant thermal field is studied for two different families of input states. Entanglement enhancement is predicted for a well defined region of the parameter space of one of these families. The most intriguing result is the possibility of probabilistic production of maximally entangled atomic states even if the input atomic state is factorized and the corresponding output state is separable.Comment: accepted for publication in J. Phys.