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arXiv:1310.8161 · Scientific Reports

Quantum random walks on congested lattices and the effect of dephasing

Keith R. Motes, Alexei Gilchrist, Peter P. Rohde

Published Jan 27, 2016• 9 citations
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Abstract

We consider quantum random walks on congested lattices and contrast them to classical random walks. Congestion is modelled on lattices that contain static defects which reverse the walker's direction. We implement a dephasing process after each step which allows us to smoothly interpolate between classical and quantum random walks as well as study the effect of dephasing on the quantum walk. Our key results show that a quantum walker escapes a finite boundary dramatically faster than a classical walker and that this advantage remains in the presence of heavily congested lattices.

DOI
10.1038/srep19864

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We consider quantum random walks on congested lattices and contrast them to classical random walks. Congestion is modelled on lattices that contain static defects which reverse the walker's direction. We implement a dephasing process after each step which allows us to smoothly interpolate between classical and quantum random walks as well as study the effect of dephasing on the quantum walk. Our key results show that a quantum walker escapes a finite boundary dramatically faster than a classical walker and that this advantage remains in the presence of heavily congested lattices.
Quantum walks can be used to model processes such as transport in spin chains and bio-molecules. The enhanced spreading and mixing properties of quantum walks compared with their classical counterparts have been well-studied on regular structures and also shown to be sensitive to defects and imperfections. Using numerical simulation, we study the spreading properties of quantum walks on percolation lattices for both bond and site percolation. The randomly missing edges or sites provide a controlled amount of disorder in the regular Cartesian lattice. In one dimension (the line) we introduce a simple model of quantum tunneling to allow the walk to proceed past the missing edges or sites. This allows the quantum walk to spread faster than a classical random walk for short times, but at longer times the disorder localises the quantum walk. In two dimensions, we observe fractional scaling of the spreading with the number of steps of the walk. For percolation above the 85% level, we obtain faster spreading than classical random walks on the full lattice.
We study the absorption time and spreading rate of the discrete-time quantum walk propagating on a line in the presence or absence of an absorber. We analytically establish that in the presence of an absorber, the average absorption time of the quantum walker is finite, contrary to the behavior of a classical random walker, indicating an infinite resource reduction on moving over to a quantum version of a walker. Furthermore, numerical simulations indicate a reversal of this behavior due to the insertion of disorder in the walker's step lengths. Additionally, we demonstrate that in the presence of an absorber, there is a speed-up in the spreading rate, and that a disordered quantum walk that is sub-ballistic regains the ballistic spreading of a clean quantum walk.
Quantum walks exhibit many unique characteristics compared to classical random walks. In the classical setting, self-avoiding random walks have been studied as a variation on the usual classical random walk. Classical self-avoiding random walks have found numerous applications, most notably in the modeling of protein folding. We consider the analogous problem in the quantum setting. We complement a quantum walk with a memory register that records where the walker has previously resided. The walker is then able to avoid returning back to previously visited sites. We parameterise the strength of the memory recording and the strength of the memory back-action on the walker's motion, and investigate their effect on the dynamics of the walk. We find that by manipulating these parameters the walk can be made to reproduce ideal quantum or classical random walk statistics, or a plethora of more elaborate diffusive phenomena. In some parameter regimes we observe a close correspondence between classical self-avoiding random walks and the quantum self-avoiding walk.
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 WWW, where a quantum to classical crossover at time ${t}_{c}\ensuremath{\propto}{W}^{\ensuremath{-}2}$ 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, we relate our results to previously studied models of decoherence for quantum walks, and examine in detail a dimer lattice which corresponds to a single qubit subject to randomness.
Discrete-time quantum walks, quantum generalizations of classical random walks, provide a framework for quantum information processing, quantum algorithms, and quantum simulation of condensed-matter systems. The key property of quantum walks, which lies at the heart of their quantum information applications, is the possibility for a parametric quantum speedup in propagation compared to classical random walks. In this work we study propagation of quantum walks on percolation-generated two-dimensional random lattices. In large-scale simulations of topological and trivial split-step walks, we identify distinct prediffusive and diffusive behaviors at different timescales. Importantly, we show that even arbitrarily weak concentrations of randomly removed lattice sites give rise to a complete breakdown of the superdiffusive quantum speedup, reducing the motion to ordinary diffusion. By increasing the randomness, quantum walks eventually stop spreading due to Anderson localization. Near the localization threshold, we find that the quantum walks become subdiffusive. The fragility of quantum speedup implies dramatic limitations for quantum information applications of quantum walks on random geometries and graphs.
The random walk of photons in a tight-binding lattice is known to exhibit diffusive motion similar to classical random walks under decoherence, clearly illustrating the quantum-to-classical transition. In this study, we reveal that the random walk of intense classical light under dephasing dynamics can disentangle quantum and ensemble averaging, making it possible to observe subdiffusive walker dynamics, i.e., a behavior very distinct from both a classical and a quantum walker. These findings are demonstrated through proposing photonic random walk in synthetic temporal lattices, based on pulse dynamics in coupled fiber loops.