Quantum walks are a promising framework for developing quantum algorithms and quantum simulations. They represent an important test case for the application of quantum computers. Here we present different forms of discrete-time quantum walks (DTQWs) and show their equivalence for physical realizations. Using an appropriate digital mapping of the position space on which a walker evolves to the multiqubit states of a quantum processor, we present different configurations of quantum circuits for the implementation of DTQWs in one-dimensional position space. We provide example circuits for a five-qubit processor and address scalability to higher dimensions as well as larger quantum processors.
We implement a quantum walk in phase space with a new mechanism based on the superconducting resonator-assisted double quantum dots. By analyzing the hybrid system, we obtain the necessary factors of realization of a quantum walk in phase space: the walker, coin, coin flipping and conditional phase shift. In order to implement the coin flipping operator, we add a driving field to the resonator. The interaction between the quantum dots and resonator field is used to implement conditional phase shift. Furthermore, we show with different driving fields the quantum walk in phase space exhibits a b…
We perform generalized measurements of a qubit by realizing the qubit as a coin in a photonic quantum walk and subjecting the walker to projective measurements. Our experimental technique can be used to realize photonically any rank-1 single-qubit positive operator-valued measure via constructing an appropriate interferometric quantum-walk network and then projectively measuring the walker's position at the final step.
We demonstrate an implementation of unambiguous state discrimination of two equally probable single-qubit states via a one-dimensional photonic quantum walk experimentally. Furthermore we experimentally realize a quantum walk algorithm for implementing a generalized measurement in terms of positive operator value measurement on a single qubit. The measurement of the single-photons' positions corresponds to a measurement of an element of the positive operator value measurement on the polarizations of the single-photons.
We consider the time dependent dynamics of an atom in a two-color pumped cavity, longitudinally through a side mirror and transversally via direct driving of the atomic dipole. The beating of the two driving frequencies leads to a time dependent effective optical potential that forces the atom into a non-trivial motion, strongly resembling a discrete random walk behavior between lattice sites. We provide both numerical and analytical analysis of such a quasi-random walk behavior.
Quantum walks are more than tools for building quantum algorithms. They have been used effectively to model and simulate quantum dynamics in many complex physical processes. Particularly, a variant of discrete-time quantum walk known as split-step quantum walk is closely related to Dirac cellular automata and topological insulators whose realizations rely on position-dependent control of evolution operators. Owing to the ease of manipulating multiple degrees of freedom of photons, we provide an optical setup of split-step operators which in combination with position-dependent coin (PDC) operat…
We discuss an efficient physical realization of topological quantum walks on a finite lattice. The $N$-point lattice is realized with $\log_2 N$ qubits, and the quantum circuit utilizes a number of quantum gates which is polynomial in the number of qubits. In a certain scaling limit, we show that a large number of steps is implemented with a number of quantum gates which is independent of the number of steps. We ran the quantum algorithm on the IBM-Q five-qubit quantum computer, thus experimentally demonstrating topological features, such as boundary bound states, on a lattice with $N=4$ point…
We experimentally demonstrate a quantum walk on a line in phase space using one and two trapped ion. A walk with up to 23 steps is realized by subjecting an ion to state-dependent displacement operations interleaved with quantum coin tossing operations. To analyze the ion's motional state after each step we apply a technique that directly maps the probability density distribution onto the ion's internal state. The measured probability distributions and the position's second moment clearly show the non-classical character of the quantum walk. To further highlight the difference between the clas…
Quantum state transfer between different sites is a significant problem for quantum networks and quantum computers. By selecting quantum walks with two coins as the basic model and two coin spaces as the communication carriers, we successfully implement quantum state transfer on various graphs (EPL, \textbf{124} (2018) 60009) \cite{Shang_2019}. Here, we demonstrate the experimental implementation of this scheme using IBM quantum experience platform. In particular, we show the transfer of Bell state, GHZ state and W state on complete graph on the quantum device. Also, we observe that our protoc…
Symmetric informationally complete positive operator-valued measurement (SIC-POVM) is one important class of quantum measurement which is crucial for various quantum information processing tasks. SIC-POVMs have the advantage of providing an unbiased estimator for quantum states with the minimal number of outcomes needed for full tomography. We present an experimental approach on a photonic quantum walk which can be used to implement SIC-POVMs on a single-qbubit. The projection measurements of single-photons' positions correspond to elements of SIC-POVM on the polarization of single-photons.
Network centrality has important implications well beyond its role in physical and information transport analysis; as such, various quantum walk-based algorithms have been proposed for measuring network vertex centrality. In this work, we propose a continuous-time quantum walk algorithm for determining vertex centrality, and show that it generalizes to arbitrary graphs via a statistical analysis of randomly generated scale-free and Erdős-Rényi networks. As a proof of concept, the algorithm is detailed on a 4-vertex star graph and physically implemented via linear optics, using spatial and pola…
The goal of teleportation is to transfer the state of one particle to another particle. In coined quantum walks, conditional shift operators can introduce entanglement between position space and coin space. This entanglement resource can be used as a quantum channel for teleportation, as proposed by Wang, Shang and Xue [Quantum Inf. Process. 16, 221 (2017)]. Here, we demonstrate the implementation of quantum teleportation using quantum walks on a five-qubit quantum computer and a 32-qubit simulator provided by IBM quantum experience beta platform. We show the teleportation of single-qubit, two…
Collective measurements on identically prepared quantum systems can extract more information than local measurements, thereby enhancing information-processing efficiency. Although this nonclassical phenomenon has been known for two decades, it has remained a challenging task to demonstrate the advantage of collective measurements in experiments. Here we introduce a general recipe for performing deterministic collective measurements on two identically prepared qubits based on quantum walks. Using photonic quantum walks, we realize experimentally an optimized collective measurement with fidelity…
Quantum computation using continuous-time evolution under a natural hardware Hamiltonian is a promising near- and mid-term direction toward powerful quantum computing hardware. We investigate the performance of continuous-time quantum walks as a tool for finding spin glass ground states, a problem that serves as a useful model for realistic optimization problems. By performing detailed numerics, we uncover significant ways in which solving spin glass problems differs from applying quantum walks to the search problem. Importantly, unlike for the search problem, parameters such as the hopping ra…
We report on a discrete-time quantum walk that uses the momentum of ultra-cold rubidium-87 atoms as the walk space and two internal atomic states as the coin degree of freedom. Each step of the walk consists of a coin toss (a microwave pulse) followed by a unitary shift operator (a resonant ratchet pulse). We carry out a comprehensive experimental study on the effects of various parameters, including the strength of the shift operation, coin parameters, noise, and initialization of the system on the behavior of the walk. The walk dynamics can be well controlled in our experiment; potential app…
Since a limit distribution of a discrete-time quantum walk on the line was derived in 2002, a lot of limit theorems for quantum walks with a localized initial state have been reported. On the other hand, in quantum probability theory, there are four notions of independence (free, monotone, commuting, and boolean independence) and quantum central limit theorems associated to each independence have been investigated. The relation between quantum walks and quantum probability theory is still unknown. As random walks are fundamental models in the Kolmogorov probability theory, can the quantum walk…
Quantum random walks are the quantum counterpart of classical random walks, and were recently studied in the context of quantum computation. A quantum random walker is subject to self interference, leading to a remarkably different behavior than that of classical random walks such as ballistic propagation or localization due to disorder. Physical implementations of quantum walks have only been made in very small scale systems severely limited by decoherence. Here we show that the propagation of photons in waveguide lattices, which have been studied extensively in recent years, are essentially …
Quantum walk has been regarded as a primitive to universal quantum computation. By using the operations required to describe the single particle discrete-time quantum walk on a position space we demonstrate the realization of the universal set of quantum gates on two- and three-qubit systems. The idea is to utilize the effective Hilbert space of the single qubit and the position space on which it evolves in order to realize multi-qubit states and universal set of quantum gates on them. Realization of many non-trivial gates and engineering arbitrary states is simpler in the proposed quantum wal…
We propose an experimental realization of discrete quantum random walks using neutral atoms trapped in optical lattices. The random walk is taking place in position space and experimental implementation with present day technology --even using existing set-ups-- seems feasible. We analyze the influence of possible imperfections in the experiment and investigate the transition from a quantum random walk to the classical random walk for increasing errors and decoherence.
Through introducing controlled alternative quantum walks, we present controlled alternate quantum walks (CAQW) based quantum hash function. CAQW based quantum hash function have excellent security, outstanding statistical performance and splendid expansibility. Furthermore, due to the structure of alternative quantum walks, implementing CAQW based quantum hash function significantly reduces the resources necessary for its feasible experimental realization than implementing other quantum hash functions. Besides, CAQW based quantum hash function has expansibility.
We build interacting Fock spaces from association schemes and set up quantum walks on the resulting regular graphs (distance-regular and distance-transitive). The construction is valid for growing graphs and the interacting Fock space is well defined asymptotically for the growing graph. To realize the quantum walks defined on the graphs in terms of anyons we switch to the dual view of the association schemes and identify the corresponding modular tensor categories from the Bose-Mesner algebra. Informally, the fusion ring induced by the association scheme and a topological twist can be the bas…
Quantum random walks have received much interest due to their non-intuitive dynamics, which may hold the key to a new generation of quantum algorithms. What remains a major challenge is a physical realization that is experimentally viable and not limited to special connectivity criteria. We present a scheme for walking on arbitrarily complex graphs, which can be realized using a variety of quantum systems such as a BEC trapped inside an optical lattice. This scheme is particularly elegant since the walker is not required to physically step between the nodes; only flipping coins is sufficient.
All existing optical quantum walk approaches are based on the use of beamsplitters and multiple paths to explore the multitude of unitary transformations of quantum amplitudes in a Hilbert space. The beamsplitter is naturally a directionally biased device: the photon cannot travel in reverse direction. This causes rapid increases in optical hardware resources required for complex quantum walk applications, since the number of options for the walking particle grows with each step. Here we present the experimental demonstration of a directionally-unbiased linear-optical multiport, which allows r…
Quantum walks play an important role for developing quantum algorithms and quantum simulations. Here we present one dimensional three-state quantum walk(lazy quantum walk) and show its equivalence for circuit realization in ternary quantum logic for the first of its kind. Using an appropriate logical mapping of the position space on which a walker evolves onto the multi-qutrit states, we present efficient quantum circuits considering the nearest neighbour position space for the implementation of lazy quantum walks in one-dimensional position space in ternary quantum system. We also address sca…
We investigate a system of two atoms in an optical lattice, performing a quantum walk by state-dependent shift operations and a coin operation acting on the internal states. The atoms interact, e.g., by cold collisions, whenever they are in the same potential well of the lattice. Under such conditions they typically develop a bound state, so that the two atoms effectively perform a quantum walk together, rarely moving further from each other than a few lattice sites. The theoretical analysis is based on a theory of quantum walks with a point defect, applied to the difference variable. We also …
We propose a scheme to implement the quantum walk for SU(1,1) in the phase space, which generalizes those associated with the Heisenberg-Weyl group. The movement of the walker described by the SU(1,1) coherent states can be visualized on the hyperboloid or the Poincaré disk. In both one-mode and two-mode realizations, we introduce the corresponding coin-flip and conditional-shift operators for the SU(1,1) group, whose relations with those for Heisenberg-Weyl group are analyzed. The probability distribution, standard deviation and the von Neumann entropy are employed to describe the walking pro…
Discrete-time quantum walks are known to exhibit exotic topological states and phases. Physical realization of quantum walks in a noisy environment may destroy these phases. We investigate the behavior of topological states in quantum walks in the presence of a lossy environment. The environmental effects in the quantum walk dynamics are addressed using the non-Hermitian Hamiltonian approach. We show that the topological phases of the quantum walks are robust against moderate losses. The topological order in one-dimensional split-step quantum walk persists as long as the Hamiltonian is $\mathc…
We propose a quantum-electrodynamics scheme for implementing the discrete-time, coined quantum walk with the walker corresponding to the phase degree of freedom for a quasi-magnon field realized in an ensemble of nitrogen-vacancy centres in diamond. The coin is realized as a superconducting flux qubit. Our scheme improves on an existing proposal for implementing quantum walks in cavity quantum electrodynamics by removing the cumbersome requirement of varying drive-pulse durations according to mean quasiparticle number. Our improvement is relevant to all indirect-coin-flip cavity quantum-electr…
Computing using a continuous-time evolution, based on the natural interaction Hamiltonian of the quantum computer hardware, is a promising route to building useful quantum computers in the near-term. Adiabatic quantum computing, quantum annealing, computation by continuous-time quantum walk, and special purpose quantum simulators all use this strategy. In this work, we carry out a detailed examination of adiabatic and quantum walk implementation of the quantum search algorithm, using the more physically realistic hypercube connectivity, rather than the complete graph, for our base Hamiltonian.…
Demonstration of Discrete-Time Quantum Walks and Observation of Topological Edge States in a Superconducting Qutrit Chain
National Laboratory of Solid State Microstructures, School of Physics, Nanjing University（南京大学固体微结构物理学院）；School of Physics, Hangzhou Normal University（杭州师范大学物理学院）；Hefei National Laboratory（合肥国家实验室）；Shishan Laboratory, Suzhou Campus of Nanjing University（南京大学苏州校区石湖实验室）
We report on the experimental realization of electric quantum walks, which mimic the effect of an electric field on a charged particle in a lattice. Starting from a textbook implementation of discrete-time quantum walks, we introduce an extra operation in each step to implement the effect of the field. The recorded dynamics of such a quantum particle exhibits features closely related to Bloch oscillations and interband tunneling. In particular, we explore the regime of strong fields, demonstrating contrasting quantum behaviors: quantum resonances vs. dynamical localization depending on whether…
One of the proposals for the exploitation of two-dimensional quantum walks has been the efficient generation of entanglement. Unfortunately, the technological effort required for the experimental realization of standard two-dimensional quantum walks is significantly demanding. In this respect, an alternative scheme with less challenging conditions has been recently studied, particularly in terms of spatial-entanglement generation [C. Di Franco, M. Mc Gettrick, and Th. Busch, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 080502 (2011)]. Here, we extend the investigation to a scenario where a measurement is performed o…
Iterated bipartite quantum games are implemented in terms of the discrete-time quantum walk on the line. Our proposal allows for conditional strategies, as two rational agents make a choice from a restricted set of two-qubit unitary operations. Several frequently used classical strategies give rise to families of corresponding quantum strategies. A quantum version of the Prisoner's Dilemma in which both players use mixed strategies is presented as a specific example. Since there are now quantum walk physical implementations at a proof-of principle stage, this connection may represent a step to…
In this article we investigate the effects of shifting position decoherence, arisen from the tunneling effect in the experimental realization of the quantum walk, on the one-dimensional discreet time quantum walk. We show that in the regime of this type of noise the quantum behavior of the walker does not fade, in contrary to the coin decoherence for which the walker undergos the quantum-to-classical transition even for weak noise. Particularly, we show that the quadratic dependency of the variance on the time and also the coin-position entanglement, i.e. two important quantum aspects of the c…
Quantum walks can be used either as tools for quantum algorithm development or as entanglement generators, potentially useful to test quantum hardware. We present a novel algorithm based on a discrete Hadamard quantum walk on a line with one coin and two walkers whose purpose is to generate entanglement between walkers. We provide several classical computer simulations of our quantum algorithm in which we show that, although the asymptotical amount of entanglement generated between walkers does not reach the highest degree of entanglement possible at each step for either coin measurement outco…
We examine the prospects of discrete quantum walks (QWs) with trapped ions. In particular, we analyze in detail the limitations of the protocol of Travaglione and Milburn (PRA 2002) that has been implemented by several experimental groups in recent years. Based on the first realization in our group (PRL 2009), we investigate the consequences of leaving the scope of the approximations originally made, such as the Lamb--Dicke approximation. We explain the consequential deviations from the idealized QW for different experimental realizations and an increasing number of steps by taking into accoun…
We construct a decomposition procedure for converting split-step quantum walks into ordinary quantum walks with alternating coins, and we show that this decomposition enables a feasible linear optical realization of split-step quantum walks by eliminating quantum-control requirements. As salient applications, we show how our scheme will simulate Majorana modes and edge states.
Decoherence is the major stumbling block in the realization of a large-scale quantum computer. Ingenious methods have been devised to overcome decoherence, but their success has been proven only for over-simplified models of system-environment interaction. Whether such methods will be reliable in the face of more realistic models is a fundamental open question. In this partly pedagogical article, we study two toy models of quantum information processing, using the language of \emph{quantum walks}. Decoherence is incorporated in 3 ways - by coupling to a noisy `projective measurement' system, a…
We address memory effects and diffusive properties of a continuous-time quantum walk on a one-dimensional percolation lattice affected by spatially correlated random telegraph noise. In particular, by introducing spatially correlated time-dependent fluctuations in nearest-neighbor hopping amplitudes, we describe random domains characterized by global noise. The resulting open dynamics of the walker is then unraveled by an ensemble average over all the noise realizations. Our results show that time-dependent noise assisted by spatial correlations leads to strong memory effects in the walker dyn…
The presence of disorder and inhomogeneities in quantum networks has often been unexpectedly beneficial for both quantum and classical resources. Here, we experimentally realize a controllable inhomogenous Quantum Walk dynamics, which can be exploited to investigate the effect of coherent disorder on the quantum correlations between two indistinguishable photons. Through the imposition of suitable disorder configurations, we observe two photon states which exhibit an enhancement in the quantum correlations between two modes of the network, compared to the case of an ordered Quantum Walk. Diffe…
The study of quantum walks has been shown to have a wide range of applications in areas such as artificial intelligence, the study of biological processes, and quantum transport. The quantum stochastic walk, which allows for incoherent movement of the walker, and therefore, directionality, is a generalization on the fully coherent quantum walk. While a quantum stochastic walk can always be described in Lindblad formalism, this does not mean that it can be microscopically derived in the standard weak-coupling limit under the Born-Markov approximation. This restricts the class of quantum stochas…
We study effects of the physical realization of quantum computers on their logical operation. Through simulation of physical models of quantum computer hardware, we analyze the difficulties that are encountered in programming physical realizations of quantum computers. Examples of logically identical implementations of the controlled-NOT operation and Grover's database search algorithm are used to demonstrate that the results of a quantum computation are unstable with respect to the physical realization of the quantum computer. We discuss the origin of these instabilities and discuss possibili…
Propagation and interference of quantum-mechanical particles comprise an important part of elementary processes in quantum physics, and their essence can be modeled using a quantum walk, a mathematical concept that describes the motion of a quantum-mechanical particle among discretized spatial regions. Here we report the observation of the quantum walks of a phonon, a vibrational quantum, in a trapped-ion crystal. By employing the capability of preparing and observing a localized wave packet of a phonon, the propagation of a single radial local phonon in a four-ion linear crystal is observed w…
We put forward a new, versatile and highly-scalable experimental setup for the realization of discrete two-dimensional quantum random walks with a single-qubit coin and tunable degree of decoherence. The proposed scheme makes use of a small number of simple optical components arranged in a multi-path Mach-Zehnder-like configuration, where a weak coherent state with average photon number of 1 is injected. Environmental effects (decoherence) are generated by a spatial light modulator, which introduces pure dephasing in the transverse spatial plane, perpendicular to the direction of propagation o…
We present a 2-local quantum algorithm for graph isomorphism GI based on an adiabatic protocol. By exploiting continuous-time quantum-walks, we are able to avoid a mere diffusion over all possible configurations and to significantly reduce the dimensionality of the visited space. Within this restricted space, the graph isomorphism problem can be translated into the search of a satisfying assignment to a 2-SAT formula without resorting to perturbation gadgets or projective techniques. We present an analysis of the execution time of the algorithm on small instances of the graph isomorphism probl…
Observation of Criticality-Enhanced Quantum Sensing in Nonunitary Quantum Walks
Southeast University（东南大学）；University of Electronic Science and Technology of China（电子科技大学）；Anhui University（安徽大学）；Tianfu Jiangxi Laboratory（天府江西实验室）；Beijing Computational Science Research Center（北京计算科学研究中心）
The dimensionality of the internal coin space of discrete-time quantum walks has a strong impact on the complexity and richness of the dynamics of quantum walkers. While two-dimensional coin operators are sufficient to define a certain range of dynamics on complex graphs, higher dimensional coins are necessary to unleash the full potential of discrete-time quantum walks. In this work we present an experimental realization of a discrete-time quantum walk on a line graph that, instead of two-dimensional, exhibits a four-dimensional coin space. Making use of the extra degree of freedom we observe…
We provide a theoretical framework for encoding arbitrary logical states of a quantum bit (qubit) into a continuous-variable quantum mode through quantum walks. Starting with a squeezed-vacuum state of the quantum mode, we show that quantum walks of the state in phase space can generate output states that are variants of codeword states originally put forward by Gottesman, Kitaev, and Preskill (GKP) [Phys. Rev. A {\bf 64}, 012310 (2001)]. In particular, with a coin-toss transformation that projects the quantum coin onto the diagonal coin-state, we show that the resulting {\em dissipative} quan…
