Physical implementations for quantum communication in quantum networks

A quantum network where the data stored, processed, and communicated consists of quantum bits, would offer exciting possibilities including teleportation, dense coding, quantum money, secured quantum key distribution, and perhaps distributed quantum computing. But how to implement such a network? In this contribution we describe a concrete physical implementation consisting of atoms placed inside high-Q optical cavities, connected by optical fibers, that allow the atoms to communicate with each other using a cavity photon as the information carrier.