We propose a scheme to create distant entangled atomic states. It is based on driving two ͑or more͒ atoms with a weak laser pulse, so that the probability that two atoms are excited is negligible. If the subsequent spontaneous emission is detected, the entangled state is created. We have developed a model to analyze the fidelity of the resulting state as a function of the dimensions and location of the detector, and the motional properties of the atoms.

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We numerically study the synchronization of two chaotic semiconductor lasers in a master-slave con guration. To synchronize the lasers a small amount of output power from the master laser is injected, after propagating through an optical ber, into the slave laser. We show that the output of the master laser can be used as a chaotic carrier to encode a digital message which can be recovered after propagating long distances. We also check the robustness of this scheme when the two lasers are slightly di erent.

Secure communication requires message authentication. In this paper we address the problem of how to authenticate quantum information sent through a quantum channel between two communicating parties with the minimum amount of resources. Specifically, our objective is to determine whether one elementary quantum message (a qubit) can be authenticated with a key of minimum length. We show that, unlike the case of classical-message quantum authentication, this is not possible.

A general class of authentication schemes for arbitrary quantum messages is proposed. The class is based on the use of sets of unitary quantum operations in both transmission and reception, and on appending a quantum tag to the quantum message used in transmission. The previous secret between partners required for any authentication is a classical key. We obtain the minimal requirements on the unitary operations that lead to a probability of failure of the scheme less than one. This failure may be caused by someone performing a unitary operation on the message in the channel between the communicating partners, or by a potential forger impersonating the transmitter.