We consider one-dimensional quantum walks in optical linear networks with synthetically introduced disorder and tunable system parameters allowing for the engineered realization of distinct topological phases. The option to directly monitor the walker's probability distribution makes this optical platform ideally suited for the experimental observation of the unique signatures of the one-dimensional topological Anderson transition. We analytically calculate the probability distribution describing the quantum critical walk in terms of a (time staggered) spin polarization signal and propose a concrete experimental protocol for its measurement. Numerical simulations back the realizability of our blueprint with current date experimental hardware.
Quantum walk (QW) in presence of lattice disorders leads to a multitude of interesting phenomena, such as Anderson localization. While QW has been realized in various optical and atomic systems, its implementation with superconducting qubits still remains pending. The major challenge in simulating QW with superconducting qubits emerges from the fact that on-chip superconducting qubits cannot hop between two adjacent lattice sites. Here we overcome this barrier and develop a scheme to realize the discrete time QW by placing a pair of superconducting qubits on each site of a 1D lattice and treat…
Wave propagation in disordered media can be strongly modified by multiple scattering and wave interference. Ultimately the so-called Anderson-localized regime is reached when the waves become strongly confined in space. So far, Anderson localization of light has been probed in transmission experiments by measuring the intensity of an external light source after propagation through a disordered medium. However, discriminating between Anderson localization and losses in these experiments remains a major challenge. Here we present an alternative approach where we use quantum emitters embedded in …
Waves fail to propagate in random media. First predicted for quantum particles in the presence of a disordered potential, Anderson localization has been observed also in classical acoustics, electromagnetism and optics. Here, for the first time, we report the observation of Anderson localization of pairs of entangled photons in a two-particle discrete quantum walk affected by position dependent disorder. A quantum walk on a disordered lattice is realized by an integrated array of interferometers fabricated in glass by femtosecond laser writing. A novel technique is used to introduce a controll…
Anderson localization is a consequence of coherent interference of multiple scattering events in the presence of disorder, which leads to an exponential suppression of the transmission. The decay of the transmission is typically probed at a given energy or frequency. Here we show that this decay affects the dynamics of a qubit coupled to the disordered system and we express the relaxation rate of the qubit in terms of the localization properties. Conversely, adding static disorder to a channel coupled to a qubit will reduce the decoherence rate of the qubit. Hence, when designing electrodes th…
We consider the spectral and dynamical properties of one-dimensional quantum walks placed into homogenous electric fields according to a discrete version of the minimal coupling principle. We show that for all irrational fields the absolutely continuous spectrum of these systems is empty, and prove Anderson localization for almost all (irrational) fields. This result closes a gap which was left open in the original study of electric quantum walks: a spectral and dynamical characterization of these systems for typical fields. Additionally, we derive an analytic and explicit expression for the L…
Quantum walks are promising for information processing tasks because on regular graphs they spread quadratically faster than random walks. Static disorder, however, can turn the tables: unlike random walks, quantum walks can suffer Anderson localization, whereby the spread of the walker stays within a finite region even in the infinite time limit. It is therefore important to understand when we can expect a quantum walk to be Anderson localized and when we can expect it to spread to infinity even in the presence of disorder. In this work we analyze the response of a generic one-dimensional qua…
Quantum walks have been shown to have impressive transport properties compared to classical random walks. However, imperfections in the quantum walk algorithm can destroy any quantum mechanical speed-up due to Anderson localization. We numerically study the effect of static disorder on a quantum walk on the glued trees graph. For small disorder, we find that the dominant effect is a type of quantum decay, and not quantum localization. For intermediate disorder, there is a crossover to diffusive transport, while a localization transition is observed at large disorder, in agreement with Anderson…
We show how two-dimensional waveguide arrays can be used to probe the effect of on-site interaction on Anderson localization of two interacting bosons in one dimension. It is shown that classical light and linear elements are sufficient to experimentally probe the interplay between interaction and disorder in this setting. For experimental relevance, we evaluate the participation ratio and the intensity correlation function as measures of localization for two types of disorder (diagonal and off-diagonal), for two types of interaction (repulsive and attractive), and for a variety of initial inp…
We address continuous-time quantum walks on graphs, and discuss whether and how quantum-limited measurements on the walker may extract information on the tunnelling amplitude between the nodes of the graphs. For a few remarkable families of graphs, we evaluate the ultimate quantum bound to precision, i.e. we compute the quantum Fisher information (QFI), and assess the performances of incomplete measurements, i.e. measurements performed on a subset of the graph's nodes. We also optimize the QFI over the initial preparation of the walker and find the optimal measurement achieving the ultimate pr…
We consider two identical bosons propagating on a one-dimensional lattice and address the prob- lem of discriminating whether their mutual on-site interaction is attractive or repulsive. We suggest a probing scheme based on the properties of the corresponding two-particle quantum walks, and show that the sign of the interaction introduces specific and detectable features in the dynamics of quantum correlations, thus permitting to discriminate between the two cases. We also discuss how these features are connected to the band-structure of the Hubbard Hamiltonian, and prove that discrimination m…
Quantum walks are considered in a one-dimensional random medium characterized by static or dynamic disorder. Quantum interference for static disorder can lead to Anderson localization which completely hinders the quantum walk and it is contrasted with the decoherence effect of dynamic disorder having strength W, where a quantum to classical crossover at time $t_{c}\propto W^{-2}$ transforms the quantum walk into an ordinary random walk with diffusive spreading. We demonstrate these localization and decoherence phenomena in quantum carpets of the observed time evolution and examine in detail a …
We investigate one-dimensional (1D) discrete time quantum walks (QWs) with spatially or temporally random defects as a consequence of interactions with random environments. We focus on the QWs with chiral symmetry in a topological phase, and reveal that chiral symmetry together with bipartite nature of the QWs brings about intriguing behaviors such as coexistence of topologically protected edge states at zero energy and Anderson transitions in the 1D chiral class at non-zero energy in their dynamics. Contrary to the previous studies, therefore, the spatially disordered QWs can avoid complete l…
Quantum walks in atomic systems, owing to their continuous nature, are especially well-suited for the simulation of many-body physics and can potentially offer an exponential speedup in solving certain black box problems. Photonics offers an alternate route to simulating such nonclassical behavior in a more robust platform. However, in photonic implementations to date, an increase to the depth of a continuous quantum walk requires modifying the footprint of the system. Here we report continuous walks of a two-photon quantum frequency comb with entanglement across multiple dimensions. The coupl…
We consider the dynamics of rotational excitations placed on a single molecule in spatially disordered 1D, 2D and 3D ensembles of ultracold molecules trapped in optical lattices. The disorder arises from incomplete populations of optical lattices with molecules. This leads to a model corresponding to a quantum particle with long-range tunnelling amplitudes moving on a lattice with the same on-site energy but with forbidden access to random sites (vacancies). We examine the time and length scales of Anderson localization for this type of disorder with realistic experimental parameters in the Ha…
We investigate numerically and theoretically the effect of spatial disorder on two-dimensional split-step discrete-time quantum walks with two internal "coin" states. Spatial disorder can lead to Anderson localization, inhibiting the spread of quantum walks, putting them at a disadvantage against their diffusively spreading classical counterparts. We find that spatial disorder of the most general type, i.e., position-dependent Haar random coin operators, does not lead to Anderson localization but to a diffusive spread instead. This is a delocalization, which happens because disorder places the…
We simulate dynamics of many-particle systems of bosons and fermions using discrete time quantum walks on lattices. We present a computational proof of a behavior of the simulated systems similar to the one observed in Hamiltonian dynamics during quantum thermalization. We record the time evolution of the entropy and the temperature of a specific particle configuration during the entire dynamics and observe how they relax to a state we call quantum walks thermal state. This observation is made on two types of lattices while simulating different numbers of particles walking on two grid graphs w…
Deterministically aperiodic sequences are an intermediary between periodic sequences and completely random sequences. Materials which are translationally periodic have Bloch-like extended states, while random media exhibit Anderson localisation. Materials constructed on the basis of deterministic aperiodic sequences such as Fibonacci, Thue-Morse, and Rudin-Shapiro exhibit different properties, which can be related to their spectrum. Here, by investigating the dynamics of discrete-time quantum walks using different aperiodic sequences of coin operations in position space and time we establish t…
We consider a new model of quantum walk on a one-dimensional momentum space that includes both discrete jumps and continuous drift. Its time evolution has two stages; a Markov diffusion followed by localized dynamics. As in the well known quantum kicked rotor, this model can be mapped into a localized one-dimensional Anderson model. For exceptional (rational) values of its scale parameter, the system exhibits resonant behavior and reduce to the usual discrete time quantum walk on the line.
We report on the observation of quantum criticality forming at the transition point between topological Anderson insulator phases in a one-dimensional photonic quantum walk with spin. The walker's probability distribution reveals a time-staggered profile of the dynamical spin-susceptibility, recently suggested as a smoking gun signature for topological Anderson criticality in the chiral symmetry class AIII. Controlled breaking of phase coherence removes the signal, revealing its origin in quantum coherence.
We prove Anderson localization for all Diophantine frequencies and all non-resonant phases for a model that arises from 2D quantum walk model subject to an external magnetic field. This is the first localization result for all Diophantine frequencies in the magnetic quantum walk and the quasi-periodic CMV setting. We also obtain sharp asymptotics of the localized eigenfunctions.
The sensitivity of quantum systems to external disturbances is a fundamental problem for the implementation of functional quantum devices, quantum information and computation. Based on remarkable experimental progress in optics and ultra-cold gases, we study the consequences of a short-time (instantaneous) noise while an intensity-dependent phase acquisition is associated with a qubit propagating on $N$-cycle. By employing quantum coherence measures, we report emerging unstable regimes in which hitherto unknown quantum walks arise, such as self-focusing and breathing dynamics. Our results unve…
We investigate the impact of decoherence and static disorder on the dynamics of quantum particles moving in a periodic lattice. Our experiment relies on the photonic implementation of a one-dimensional quantum walk. The pure quantum evolution is characterized by a ballistic spread of a photon's wave packet along 28 steps. By applying controlled time-dependent operations we simulate three different environmental influences on the system, resulting in a fast ballistic spread, a diffusive classical walk and the first Anderson localization in a discrete quantum walk architecture.
Disorder and non-Hermiticity dramatically impact the topological and localization properties of a quantum system, giving rise to intriguing quantum states of matter. The rich interplay of disorder, non-Hermiticity, and topology is epitomized by the recently proposed non-Hermitian topological Anderson insulator that hosts a plethora of exotic phenomena. Here we experimentally simulate the non-Hermitian topological Anderson insulator using disordered photonic quantum walks, and characterize its localization and topological properties. In particular, we focus on the competition between Anderson l…
Measurements on a quantum particle unavoidably affect its state, since the otherwise unitary evolution of the system is interrupted by a non-unitary projection operation. In order to probe measurement-induced effects in the state dynamics using a quantum simulator, the challenge is to implement controlled measurements on a small subspace of the system and continue the evolution from the complementary subspace. A powerful platform for versatile quantum evolution is represented by photonic quantum walks due to their high control over all relevant parameters. However, measurement-induced dynamics…
We design a quantum probing protocol using Quantum Walks to investigate the Quantum Information spreading pattern. We employ Quantum Fisher Information, as a figure of merit, to quantify extractable information about an unknown parameter encoded within the Quantum Walk evolution. Although the approach is universal, we focus on the coherent static and dynamic disorder to investigate anomalous and classical transport as well as Anderson localization. Our results show that a Quantum Walk can be considered as a readout device of information about defects and perturbations occurring in complex netw…
We study the localization properties, energy spectra and coin-position entanglement of the aperiodic discrete-time quantum walks. The aperiodicity is described by spatially dependent quantum coins distributed on the lattice, whose distribution is neither periodic (Bloch-like) nor random (Anderson-like). Within transport properties we identified delocalized/localized quantum walks mediated by a proper adjusting of aperiodic parameter. Both scenarios are studied by exploring typical quantities (inverse participation ratio and survival probability), as well as the energy spectra of an associated …
It was recently shown that Aharonov-Bohm (AB) cages exist for quantum walks (QW) on certain tilings -- such as the diamond chain or the dice (or $\mathcal{T}_3$) lattice -- for a proper choice of coins. In this article, we probe the robustness of these AB cages to various perturbations. When the cages are destroyed, we analyze the leakage mechanism and characterize the resulting dynamics. Quenched disorder typically breaks the cages and leads to an exponential decay of the wavefunction similar to Anderson localization. Dynamical disorder or repeated measurements destroy phase coherence and tur…
We study the effects of long-range hopping and long-range inter-particle interactions on quantum walk of hard-core bosons in ideal and disordered one-dimensional lattices. We find that the range of hopping has a much more significant effect on the particle correlation dynamics than the range of interactions. We illustrate that long-range hopping makes the correlation diagrams asymmetric with respect to the sign of the interaction and examine the relative role of repulsive and attractive interactions on the dynamics of scattering by isolated impurities and Anderson localization in dis- ordered …
We investigate how arbitrary number of entangled qubits affects properties of quantum walk. We consider variance, positions with non-zero probability density and entropy as criteria to determine the optimal number of entangled qubits in quantum walk. We show that for a single walker in one-dimensional position space, walk with three entangled qubits show better efficiency in considered criteria comparing to the walks with other number of entangled qubits. We also confirm that increment in number of the entangled qubits results into significant drop in variance of probability density distributi…
We consider a d-dimensional random quantum walk with site-dependent random coin operators. The corresponding transition coefficients are characterized by deterministic amplitudes times independent identically distributed site-dependent random phases. When the deterministic transition amplitudes are close enough to those of a quantum walk which forbids propagation, we prove that dynamical localization holds for almost all random phases. This instance of Anderson localization implies that all quantum mechanical moments of the position operator are uniformly bounded in time and that spectral loca…
Transport phenomena play a crucial role in modern physics and applied sciences. Examples include the dissipation of energy across a large system, the distribution of quantum information in optical networks, and the timely modeling of spreading diseases. In this work, we experimentally prove the feasibility of disordered quantum walks to realize a quantum simulator that is able to model general subdiffusive phenomena, exhibiting a sublinear spreading in space over time. Our experiment simulates such phenomena by means of a finely controlled insertion of various levels of disorder during the evo…
Institut de Physique Théorique, Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, CEA（巴黎萨克雷大学理论物理研究所）；Division of Mathematics The Science Institute, University of Iceland（冰岛大学科学研究所数学系）
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…
The time evolution of one- and two-dimensional discrete-time quantum walk with increase in disorder is studied. We use spatial, temporal and spatio-temporal broken periodicity of the unitary evolution as disorder to mimic the effect of disordered/random medium in our study. Disorder induces a dramatic change in the interference pattern leading to localization of the quantum walks in one- and two-dimensions. Spatial disorder results in the decreases of the particle and position entanglement in one-dimension and counter intuitively, an enhancement in entanglement with temporal and spatio-tempora…
We study the spreading of a quantum particle placed in a single site of a lattice or binary tree with the Hamiltonian permitting particle number changes. We show that the particle number-changing interactions accelerate the spreading beyond the ballistic expansion limit by inducing off-resonant Rabi oscillations between states of different numbers of particles. We consider the effect of perturbative number-changing couplings on Anderson localization in one-dimensional disordered lattices and show that they lead to decrease of localization. The effect of these couplings is shown to be larger at…
Delocalization transition is numerically found in a non-Hermitian extension of a discrete-time quantum walk on a one-dimensional random medium. At the transition, an eigenvector gets delocalized and at the same time the corresponding energy eigenvalue (the imaginary unit times the phase of the eigenvalue of the time-evolution operator) becomes complex. This is in accordance with a non-Hermitian extension of the random Anderson model in one dimension, called, the Hatano-Nelson model. We thereby numerically find that all eigenstates of the Hermitian quantum walk share a common localization lengt…
First we report that the adjacency matrices of real-world complex networks systematically have null eigenspaces with much higher dimensions than that of random networks. These null eigenvalues are caused by duplication mechanisms leading to structures with local symmetries which should be more present in complex organizations. The associated eigenvectors of these states are strongly localized. We then evaluate these microstructures in the context of quantum mechanics, demonstrating the previously mentioned localization by studying the spread of continuous-time quantum walks. This null-eigenval…
We analyze the properties of a two and three dimensional quantum walk that are inspired by the idea of a brane-world model put forward by Rubakov and Shaposhnikov [1]. In that model, particles are dynamically confined on the brane due to the interaction with a scalar field. We translated this model into an alternate quantum walk with a coin that depends on the external field, with a dependence which mimics a domain wall solution. As in the original model, fermions (in our case, the walker), become localized in one of the dimensions, not from the action of a random noise on the lattice (as in t…
We study one-dimensional quantum walks in a homogeneous electric field. The field is given by a phase which depends linearly on position and is applied after each step. The long time propagation properties of this system, such as revivals, ballistic expansion and Anderson localization, depend very sensitively on the value of the electric field $Φ$, e.g., on whether $Φ/(2π)$ is rational or irrational. We relate these properties to the continued fraction expansion of the field. When the field is given only with finite accuracy, the beginning of the expansion allows analogous conclusions about th…
The spatial localization of quantum states plays a central role in condensed-matter phenomena, ranging from many-body localization to topological matter. Building on the dissipation-fluctuation theorem, we propose that the localization properties of a quantum-engineered system can be probed by spectroscopy, namely, by measuring its excitation rate upon a periodic drive. We apply this method to various examples that are of direct experimental relevance in ultracold atomic gases, including Anderson localization, topological edge modes, and interacting particles in a harmonic trap. Moreover, insp…
Chains of superconducting circuit devices provide a natural platform for studies of synthetic bosonic quantum matter. Motivated by the recent experimental progress in realizing disordered and interacting chains of superconducting transmon devices, we study the bosonic many-body localization phase transition using the methods of exact diagonalization as well as matrix product state dynamics. We estimate the location of transition separating the ergodic and the many-body localized phases as a function of the disorder strength and the many-body on-site interaction strength. The main difference be…
We investigate the properties of a quantum walk which can simulate the behavior of a spin $1/2$ particle in a model with an ordinary spatial dimension, and one extra dimension with warped geometry between two branes. Such a setup constitutes a $1+1$ dimensional version of the Randall-Sundrum model, which plays an important role in high energy physics. In the continuum spacetime limit, the quantum walk reproduces the Dirac equation corresponding to the model, which allows to anticipate some of the properties that can be reproduced by the quantum walk. In particular, we observe that the probabil…
We have investigated the time-evolution of a free particle in interaction with a phonon thermal bath, using the tight-binding approach. A dissipative quantum walk can be defined and many important non-equilibrium decoherence properties can be investigated analytically. The non-equilibrium statistics of a pure initial state have been studied. Our theoretical results indicate that the evolving wave-packet shows the suppression of Anderson's boundaries (ballistic peaks) by the presence of dissipation. Many important relaxation properties can be studied quantitatively, such as von Neumann's entrop…
Operator spreading, often characterized by out-of-time-order correlators (OTOCs), is one of the central concepts in quantum many-body physics. However, measuring OTOCs is experimentally challenging due to the requirement of reversing the time evolution of systems. Here we apply Floquet engineering to investigate operator spreading in a superconducting 10-qubit chain. Floquet engineering provides an effective way to tune the coupling strength between nearby qubits, which is used to demonstrate quantum walks with tunable couplings, reversed time evolution, and the measurement of OTOCs. A clear l…
The possibility of using nanoelectromechanical systems as a simulation tool for quantum many-body effects is explored. It is demonstrated that an array of electrostatically coupled nanoresonators can effectively simulate the Bose-Hubbard model without interactions, corresponding in the single-phonon regime to the Anderson tight-binding model. Employing a density matrix formalism for the system coupled to a bosonic thermal bath, we study the interplay between disorder and thermalization, focusing on the delocalization process. It is found that the phonon population remains localized for a long …
One-dimensional lattices with chiral symmetry are known to possess quantized Zak phase and nontrivial topological phases. Here it is shown that quantized Zak phase and nontrivial edge states, partially protected by inversion symmetry rather than chiral symmetry, can be observed and probed in the bulk exploiting continuous-time photonic quantum walk in zig-zag waveguide arrays. Averaged beam displacement measurements can detect quantized Zak phase and non-trivial topological phases in the extended Su-Schrieffer-Heeger model with broken chiral symmetry.
Anderson's nonstandard construction of brownian motion as an infinitesimal random walk on the euclidean line is generalized to an Hausdorff riemannian manifold. A nonstandard Feynman-Kac formula holding on such an Hausdorff riemannian manifold is derived. Indications are given on how these (radically elementary) results could allow to formulate a nonstandard version of Stochastic Mechanics (avoiding both the explicitly discussed bugs of Internal Set Theory as well as the controversial renormalization of the stochastic action). It is anyway remarked how this would contribute to hide the basic f…
Quantum walk is a synonym for multi-path interference and faster spread of a particle in a superposition of position space. We study the effects of a quantum mechanical interaction modeled to mimic quantum mechanical gravitational interaction between the two states of the walkers. The study has been carried out to investigate the entanglement generation between the two quantum walkers that do not otherwise interact. We see that the states do in fact get entangled more and more as the quantum walks unfold, and there is an interesting dependence of entanglement generation on the mass of the two …
We present a theoretical and numerical study of the competition between two opposite interference effects, namely interference-induced ballistic transport on one hand, and strong (Anderson) localization on the other. While the former effect allows for resistance free transport, the latter brings the transport to a complete halt. As a model system, we consider the quantum kicked rotor, where strong localization is observed in the discrete momentum coordinate. In this model, we introduce the ballistic transport in the form of a Hadamard quantum walk in that momentum coordinate. The two transport…
A hallmark of topological band theory in periodic media is that bulk properties are not affected by boundary conditions. Remarkably, in certain non-Hermitian lattices the bulk properties are largely affected by boundaries, leading to such major effects as the non-Hermitian skin effect and violation of the bulk-boundary correspondence. Here we unveil that non-unitary discrete-time quantum walks of photons in systems involving gain and loss show rather generally non-Bloch parity-time ($\mathcal{PT}$) symmetry breaking phase transitions, and suggest a bulk probing method to detect such boundary-d…
Quantum percolation describes the problem of a quantum particle moving through a disordered system. While certain similarities to classical percolation exist, the quantum case has additional complexity due to the possibility of Anderson localisation. Here, we consider a directed discrete-time quantum walk as a model to study quantum percolation of a two-state particle on a two-dimensional lattice. Using numerical analysis we determine the fraction of connected edges required (transition point) in the lattice for the two-state particle to percolate with finite (non-zero) probability for three f…
Non-Hermitian topological edge states have many intriguing properties, but have so far mainly been discussed in terms of bulk-boundary correspondence. Here we propose to use a bulk property of diffusion coefficients for probing the topological states and exploring their dynamics. The diffusion coefficient is found to show unique features with the topological phase transitions driven by paritytime( PT)-symmetric non-Hermitian discrete-time quantum walks as well as by Hermitian ones, despite artificial boundaries are not constructed by inhomogeneous quantum walk. For a Hermitian system, a turnin…
Topological matter exhibits exotic properties yet phases characterized by large topological invariants are difficult to implement, despite rapid experimental progress. A promising route toward higher topological invariants is via engineered Floquet systems, particularly in photonics, where flexible control holds the potential of extending the study of conventional topological matter to novel regimes. Here we implement a one-dimensional photonic quantum walk to explore large winding numbers. By introducing partial measurements and hence loss into the system, we detect winding numbers of three a…
