  Quantum repeaters create long-distance entanglement between quantum systems
while overcoming difficulties such as the attenuation of single photons in a
fiber. Recently, an implementation of a repeater protocol based on single
qubits in atomic ensembles and linear optics has been proposed [Nature 414, 413
(2001)]. Motivated by rapid experimental progress towards implementing that
protocol, here we develop a more efficient scheme compatible with active
purification of arbitrary errors. Using similar resources as the earlier
protocol, our approach intrinsically purifies leakage out of the logical
subspace and all errors within the logical subspace, leading to greatly
improved performance in the presence of experimental inefficiencies. Our
analysis indicates that our scheme could generate approximately one pair per 3
minutes over 1280 km distance with fidelity (F>78%) sufficient to violate
Bell's inequality.
