  We present a protocol that allows the generation of a maximally entangled
state between individual atoms held in spatially separate cavities. Assuming
perfect detectors and neglecting spontaneous emission from the atoms, the
resulting idealized scheme is deterministic. Under more realistic conditions,
when the the atom-cavity interaction departs from the strong coupling regime,
and considering imperfect detectors, we show that the scheme is robust against
experimental inefficiencies and yields probabilistic entanglement of very high
fidelity.
