  In the last few years there has been a lot of interest in quantum repeater
protocols using only atomic ensembles and linear optics. Here we show that the
local generation of high-fidelity entangled pairs of atomic excitations, in
combination with the use of two-photon detections for long-distance
entanglement generation, permits the implementation of a very attractive
quantum repeater protocol. Such a repeater is robust with respect to phase
fluctuations in the transmission channels, and at the same time achieves higher
entanglement generation rates than other protocols using the same ingredients.
We propose an efficient method of generating high-fidelity entangled pairs
locally, based on the partial readout of the ensemble-based memories. We also
discuss the experimental implementation of the proposed protocol.
