Robust generation of qutrit entanglement via adiabatic passage of dark states

We propose a scheme for the deterministic generation of qutrit entanglement for two atoms trapped in an optical cavity. Taking advantage of the adiabatic passage, the operation is immune to atomic spontaneous emission as the atomic excited states are never populated; under certain conditions, the probability that the cavity is excited is negligible. We also study the influences of the dissipation due to the atomic spontaneous emission and cavity decay.