Scheme for implementing quantum logic gates for two atoms trapped in different cavities

A scheme is presented for realizing quantum logic gates for two atoms localized in two distant optical cavities. Our scheme works in a regime in which the atom--cavity coupling strength is smaller than the cavity decay rate. Thus the requirement on the quality factor of the cavities is greatly relaxed. Furthermore, the fidelity of our scheme is not affected by detection inefficiency and atomic decay. These advantages are important in view of experiment.