  We propose and analyze a quantum repeater architecture in which Rydberg
blocked atomic ensembles inside optical cavities are linked by optical fibers.
Entanglement generation, swapping and purification are achieved through
collective laser manipulations of the ensembles and photon transmission.
Successful transmission and storage of entanglement are heralded by ionization
events rather than by photon detection signal used in previous proposals. We
demonstrate how the high charge detection efficiency allows for a shortened
average entanglement generation time, and we analyze an implementation of our
scheme with ensembles of Cs atoms.
