Preparation of entanglement between atoms in spatially separated cavities via fiber loss

We propose a scheme to prepare a maximally entangled state for two Lambda-type atoms trapped in separate optical cavities coupled through an optical fiber based on the combined effect of the unitary dynamics and the dissipative process. Our work shows that the fiber loss, as well as the atomic spontaneous emission and the cavity decay, is no longer undesirable, but requisite to prepare the distributed entanglement, which is meaningful for the long distance quantum information processing tasks. Originating from an arbitrary state, the desired state could be prepared without precise time control. The robustness of the scheme is numerically demonstrated by considering various parameters.