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arXiv:1411.3958 · Physical Review A

Edge-state-enhanced transport in a two-dimensional quantum walk

János K. Asbóth, Jonathan M. Edge

Published Feb 19, 2015• 49 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Quantum walks on translation-invariant regular graphs spread quadratically faster than their classical counterparts. The same coherence that gives them this quantum speedup inhibits or even stops their spread in the presence of disorder. We ask how to create an efficient transport channel from a fixed source site $(A)$ to fixed target site $(B)$ in a disordered two-dimensional discrete-time quantum walk by cutting some of the links. We show that the somewhat counterintuitive strategy of cutting links along a single line connecting $A$ to $B$ creates such a channel. The efficient transport along the cut is due to topologically protected chiral edge states, which exist even though the bulk Chern number in this system vanishes. We give a realization of the walk as a periodically driven lattice Hamiltonian and identify the bulk topological invariant responsible for the edge states as the quasienergy winding of this Hamiltonian.

DOI
10.1103/physreva.91.022324

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Quantum walks on translation-invariant regular graphs spread quadratically faster than their classical counterparts. The same coherence that gives them this quantum speedup inhibits or even stops their spread in the presence of disorder. We ask how to create an efficient transport channel from a fixed source site (A)(A)(A) to fixed target site (B)(B)(B) in a disordered two-dimensional discrete-time quantum walk by cutting some of the links. We show that the somewhat counterintuitive strategy of cutting links along a single line connecting AAA to BBB creates such a channel. The efficient transport along the cut is due to topologically protected chiral edge states, which exist even though the bulk Chern number in this system vanishes. We give a realization of the walk as a periodically driven lattice Hamiltonian and identify the bulk topological invariant responsible for the edge states as the quasienergy winding of this Hamiltonian.
Discrete-time quantum walks have been shown to simulate all known topological phases in one and two dimensions. Being periodically driven quantum systems, their topological description, however, is more complex than that of closed Hamiltonian systems. We map out the topological phases of the particle-hole symmetric one-dimensional discrete-time quantum walk. We find that there is no chiral symmetry in this system: its topology arises from the particle-hole symmetry alone. We calculate the ${\mathbb{Z}}_{2}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}{\mathbb{Z}}_{2}$ topological invariant in a simple way that is consistent with a general definition for one-dimensional periodically driven quantum systems. These results allow for a transparent interpretation of the edge states on a finite lattice via the the bulk-boundary correspondence. We find that the bulk Floquet operator does not contain all the information needed for the topological invariant. As an illustration to this statement, we show that in the split-step quantum walk, the edges between two bulks with the same Floquet operator can host topologically protected edge states.
Quantum walks (QWs) provide a powerful tool as a quantum simulator to study topological phases. However, some interesting topological phenomena in the two dimensional (2D) QW that do not exist in the one dimensional case, e.g., the edge-state-enhanced transport, have not been demonstrated experimentally. Here we have observed 2D topological bound states with vanishing Chern numbers and confirmed the robustness of these bound states with respect to perturbations and disorder, which go beyond what has been known in static systems and are unique to periodically driven systems. Our studies open up an avenue to explore topological properties in multidimensional QWs.
Periodically driven systems have displayed a variety of fascinating phenomena without analogies in static systems, which enrich the classification of quantum phases of matter and stimulate a wide range of research interests. Here, we employ discrete-time quantum walks to investigate a nontrivial topological effect unique to a two-dimensional periodically driven system: chiral edge states can exist at the interface of Floquet insulators whose Chern numbers vanish. Thanks to a resource-saving and flexible fiber-loop architecture, we realize inhomogeneous two-dimensional quantum walks up to 25 steps, over an effective 51×51 lattice with tunable local parameters. Spin-polarized chiral edge states are observed at the boundary of two distinct quantum walk domains. Our results contribute to establishing a well-controlled platform for exploring nontrivial topological phases.
Discrete-time quantum walks (DTQW) have topological phases that are richer than those of time-independent lattice Hamiltonians. Even the basic symmetries, on which the standard classification of topological insulators hinges, have not yet been properly defined for quantum walks. We introduce the key tool of time frames, i.e., we describe a DTQW by the ensemble of time-shifted unitary time-step operators belonging to the walk. This gives us a way to consistently define chiral symmetry (CS) for DTQW's. We show that CS can be ensured by using an ``inversion symmetric'' pulse sequence. For one-dimensional DTQW's with CS, we identify the bulk $\mathbb{Z}\ifmmode\times\else\texttimes\fi{}\mathbb{Z}$ topological invariant that controls the number of topologically protected 0 and $\ensuremath{\pi}$ energy edge states at the interfaces between different domains, and give simple formulas for these invariants. We illustrate this bulk-boundary correspondence for DTQW's on the example of the ``4-step quantum walk,'' where tuning CS and particle-hole symmetry realizes edge states in various symmetry classes.
Quantum walks, both discrete (coined) and continuous time, form the basis of several quantum algorithms and have been used to model processes such as transport in spin chains and quantum chemistry. 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 in the lattice. As a simple example of a disordered system, we consider percolation lattices, in which edges or sites are randomly missing, interrupting the progress of the quantum walk. We use numerical simulation to study the properties of coined quantum walks on these percolation lattices in one and two dimensions. In one dimension (the line), we introduce a simple notion of quantum tunnelling and determine how this affects the properties of the quantum walk as it spreads. On two-dimensional percolation lattices, we show how the spreading rate varies from linear in the number of steps down to zero as the percolation probability decreases towards the critical point. This provides an example of fractional scaling in quantum-walk dynamics.
Quantum walks are discrete-time evolutions of single particles on lattices that transfer the concept of classical random walks to quantum theory. Topological insulators are objects that promise symmetry-protected edge-states for transportation along the edge. Together, both subjects lay the foundation to a description of new materials that may be used e.g. for quantum computation or transport. In this thesis, we study topological phases in quantum walks. Given a representation of the discrete symmetry groups of the tenfold way, we develop a topological classification which distinguishes three symmetry indices whose values lie in the group of integers, the group of two elements, or the trivial group, depending on the symmetry type under consideration. The classification is applicable to quantum walks that are gapped at the symmetry-protected points. All symmetry indices are proven to be stable under norm-continuous perturbations, but only two of the three indices are invariant under compact non-continuous perturbations. These two indices describe the asymptotic behaviour far to the left and far to the right, respectively. The third index reflects whether a compact perturbation can be performed in arbitrarily small steps without violating the symmetries. Given two walks in the same phase (i.e. the symmetry indices coincide), we show that there is a norm-continuous path of walks in that phase that connects them. This renders the set of invariants we introduced complete. Our theory covers translation invariant bulks as well, where we prove that the third index vanishes and the left- and right indices add up to zero. Hence these systems are fully classified by the right index alone. Joining two bulks in different phases (one left, one right), we show that eigenvalues emerge in the gap (bulk-boundary correspondence), whose eigenfunctions decay exponentially away from the boundary. Since our theory does not demand translation invariance at all, these composed systems are still described by our general classification. Restricting to the translation invariant case, we express the symmetry index as a winding number of a loop in momentum space. Within this restricted class, we prove that our classification is complete as well.