Interplay between quantum interference and classical randomness can enhance performance of various quantum information tasks. In the present paper we analyze recurrence phenomena in the discrete-time quantum stochastic walk on a line, which is a quantum stochastic process that interpolates between quantum and classical walk dynamics. Surprisingly, we find that introducing classical randomness can reduce the recurrence probability – despite the fact that the classical random walk returns with certainty – and we identify the conditions under which this intriguing phenomenon occurs. Numerical evaluation of the first-return generating function allows us to investigate the asymptotics of the return probability as the step number approaches infinity. This provides strong evidence that the suppression of recurrence probability is not a transient effect but a robust feature of the underlying quantum-classical interplay in the asymptotic limit. Our results show that for certain tasks discrete-time quantum stochastic walks outperform both classical random walks and unitary quantum walks.

Abstract Absorption of two-state coined quantum walks on a finite line with two sinks located at N and − N is investigated. Elaborating on the results of Konno et al (2003 J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 36 241), we derive closed formulas for the absorption probabilities at the boundaries in the limit of large system size N . Two limiting cases are considered, with the starting position k being independent of N , or kept at a constant distance δ from one of absorbers. In the first scenario, the absorption probability is determined only by the coin parameter and polar angle of the initial coin state decomposed into the eigenbasis of the coin operator. In the second case, a correction depending exponentially on δ is introduced. Finally, we perform an extensive numerical investigation for small system size N , showing excellent agreement between numerical and analytical results.

Absorption of two-state quantum walks on a finite line is investigated. We consider a symmetric configuration, with two sinks located at N and -N and the quantum walker starting in the middle. Elaborating on the results of Konno et al., J. Phys. A: Math. Gen. 36 241 (2003), we derive closed formulas for the absorption probabilities at the boundaries in the limit of large system size N. It is shown that the absorption depends, apart from the coin angle, only on the probability that the initial state is one of the eigenstates of the coin operator. Finally, we perform an extensive numerical investigation for small system size N, showing that the convergence to the analytical result is exponentially fast.

Search and state transfer between hubs, i.e., fully connected vertices, on otherwise arbitrary connected graph is investigated. Motivated by a recent result of Razzoli et al. [J. Phys. A: Math. Theor. 55, 265303 (2022)] on the universality of hubs in continuous-time quantum walks and spatial search, we extend the investigation to state transfer and also to the discrete-time case. We show that the continuous-time quantum walk allows for perfect state transfer between multiple hubs if the numbers of senders and receivers are close. Turning to the discrete-time case, we show that the search for hubs is successful provided that the initial state is locally modified to account for a degree of each individual vertex. Concerning state transfer using discrete-time quantum walk, it is shown that between a single sender and a single receiver one can transfer two orthogonal states in the same run time. Hence, it is possible to transfer an arbitrary quantum state of a qubit between two hubs. In addition, if the sender and the receiver know each other location, another linearly independent state can be transferred, allowing for exchange of a qutrit state. Finally, we consider the case of transfer between multiple senders and receivers. In this case we cannot transfer specific quantum states. Nevertheless, quantum walker can be transferred with high probability in two regimes-either when there is a similar number of senders and receivers, which is the same as for the continuous-time quantum walk, or when the number of receivers is considerably larger than the number of senders. Our investigation is based on dimensional reduction utilizing the invariant subspaces of the respective evolutions and the fact that for the appropriate choice of the loop weights the problem can be reduced to the complete graph with loops.

Asymptotic dynamics of a Hadamard walk of two non-interacting quantum particles on a dynamically percolated finite line or a circle is investigated. We construct a basis of the attractor space of the corresponding random-unitary dynamics and prove the completeness of our solution. In comparison to the one-particle case, the structure of the attractor space is much more complex, resulting in intriguing asymptotic dynamics. General results are illustrated on two examples. First, for circles of length not divisible by 4 the boundary conditions reduces the number of attractors considerably, allowing for fully analytic solution. Second, we investigate line of length 4 and determine the asymptotic cycle of reduced coin states and position distributions, focusing on the correlations between the two particles. Our results show that a random unitary evolution, which is a combination of quantum dynamics and a classical stochasticity, leads to correlations between initially uncorrelated particles. This is not possible for purely unitary evolution of non-interacting quantum particles. The shared dynamically percolated graph can thus be considered as a weak form of interaction.

Monitored recurrence of a one-parameter set of three-state quantum walks on a line is investigated. The calculations are considerably simplified by choosing a suitable basis of the coin space. We show that the Polya number (i.e. the site recurrence probability) depends on the coin parameter and the probability that the walker is initially in a particular coin state for which the walk returns to the origin with certainty. Finally, we present a brief investigation of the exact quantum state recurrence.

We investigate state transfer on a hypercube by means of a quantum walk where the sender and the receiver vertices are marked by a weighted loops. First, we analyze search for a single marked vertex, which can be used for state transfer between arbitrary vertices by switching the weighted loop from the sender to the receiver after one run-time. Next, state transfer between antipodal vertices is considered. We show that one can tune the weight of the loop to achieve state transfer with high fidelity in shorter run-time in comparison to the state transfer with a switch. Finally, we investigate state transfer between vertices of arbitrary distance. It is shown that when the distance between the sender and the receiver is at least 2, the results derived for the antipodes are well applicable. If the sender and the receiver are direct neighbours the evolution follows a slightly different course. Nevertheless, state transfer with high fidelity is achieved in the same run-time.

We provide a detailed analysis of the survival probability of the Grover walk on the ladder graph with an absorbing sink. This model was discussed in Mareš et al (2020 Phys. Rev. A 101 032113 ), as an example of counter-intuitive behaviour in quantum transport where it was found that the survival probability decreases with the length of the ladder L , despite the fact that the number of dark states increases. An orthonormal basis in the dark subspace is constructed, which allows us to derive a closed formula for the survival probability. It is shown that the course of the survival probability as a function of L can change from increasing and converging exponentially quickly to decreasing and converging like L −1 simply by attaching a loop to one of the corners of the ladder. The interplay between the initial state and the graph configuration is investigated.

Quantum walks exhibit properties without classical analogues. One of those is the phenomenon of asymptotic trapping -- there can be non-zero probability of the quantum walker being localised in a finite part of the underlying graph indefinitely even though locally all directions of movement are assigned non-zero amplitudes at each step. We study quantum walks with the flip-flop shift operator and the Grover coin, where this effect has been identified previously. For the version of the walk further modified by a random dynamical disruption of the graph (percolated quantum walks) we provide a recipe for the construction of a complete basis of the subspace of trapped states allowing to determine the asymptotic probability of trapping for arbitrary finite connected simple graphs, thus significantly generalizing the previously known result restricted to planar 3-regular graphs. We show how the position of the source and sink together with the graph geometry and its modifications affect the excitation transport. This gives us a deep insight into processes where elongation or addition of dead-end subgraphs may surprisingly result in enhanced transport and we design graphs exhibiting this pronounced behavior. In some cases this even provides closed-form formulas for the asymptotic transport probability in dependence on some structure parameters of the graphs.

We connect the Grover walk with sinks to the Grover walk with tails. The survival probability of the Grover walk with sinks in the long time limit is characterized by the centered generalized eigenspace of the Grover walk with tails. The centered eigenspace of the Grover walk is the attractor eigenspace of the Grover walk with sinks. It is described by the persistent eigenspace of the underlying random walk whose support has no overlap to the boundaries of the graph and combinatorial flow in graph theory.

Welcome to the SPIE Quantum Optics and Photon Counting 2021, a part of Optics + Optoelectronics Digital Forum 2021! Conference co-chairs Ivan Prochazka, Roman Sobolewski, Martin Stefanak, Aurel Gabris and our Program Committee members, we all thank you for joining us in this exciting event and sharing your cutting-edge research with the colleagues from around the world.

We investigate coined quantum-walk search and state-transfer algorithms, focusing on the complete $M$-partite graph with $N$ vertices in each partition. First, it is shown that by adding a loop to each vertex, the search algorithm finds the marked vertex with unit probability in the limit of a large graph. Next, we employ the evolution operator of the search with two marked vertices to perform a state transfer between the sender and the receiver. We show that when the sender and the receiver are in different partitions, the algorithm succeeds with fidelity approaching unity for a large graph. However, when the sender and the receiver are in the same partition, the fidelity does not reach exactly 1. To solve this problem, we propose a state-transfer algorithm with an active switch, whose fidelity can be estimated based on the single vertex search alone.

One of the unique features of discrete-time quantum walks is called trapping, meaning the inability of the quantum walker to completely escape from its initial position, although the system is translationally invariant. The effect is dependent on the dimension and the explicit form of the local coin. A four-state discrete-time quantum walk on a square lattice is defined by its unitary coin operator, acting on the four-dimensional coin Hilbert space. The well-known example of the Grover coin leads to a partial trapping, i.e., there exists some escaping initial state for which the probability of staying at the initial position vanishes. On the other hand, some other coins are known to exhibit strong trapping, where such an escaping state does not exist. We present a systematic study of coins leading to trapping, explicitly construct all such coins for discrete-time quantum walks on the two-dimensional square lattice, and classify them according to the structure of the operator and the manifestation of the trapping effect. We distinguish three types of trapping coins exhibiting distinct dynamical properties, as exemplified by the existence or nonexistence of the escaping state and the area covered by the spreading wave packet.

Quantum walks are accepted as a generic model for quantum transport. The character of the transport crucially depends on the properties of the walk like its geometry and the driving coin. We demonstrate that increasing transport distance between source and target or adding redundant branches to the actual graph may surprisingly result in a significant enhancement of transport efficiency. We explain analytically the observed nonclassical effects using the concept of trapped states for several intriguing geometries, including the ladder graph, the Cayley tree, and its modifications.

Measurements on a quantum particle unavoidably affect its state, since the otherwise unitary evolution of the system is interrupted by a nonunitary projection operation. 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 because of their high control over all relevant parameters. However, measurement-induced dynamics in such a platform have not yet been realized. We implement controlled measurements in a discrete-time quantum walk based on time-multiplexing. This is achieved by adding a deterministic outcoupling of the optical signal to include measurements constrained to specific positions resulting in the projection of the walker's state on the remaining ones. With this platform and coherent input light, we experimentally simulate measurement-induced single-particle quantum dynamics. We demonstrate the difference between dynamics with only a single measurement at the final step and those including measurements during the evolution. To this aim, we study recurrence as a figure of merit, that is, the return probability to the walker's starting position, which is measured in the two cases. We track the development of the return probability over 36 time steps and observe the onset of both recurrent and transient evolution as an effect of the different measurement schemes, a signature which only emerges for quantum systems. Our simulation of the observed one-particle conditional quantum dynamics does not require a genuine quantum particle but is demonstrated with coherent light.

We consider a two-state quantum walk on a line where after the first step an absorbing sink is placed at the origin. The probability of finding the walker at position $j$, conditioned on that it has not returned to the origin, is investigated in the asymptotic limit. We prove a limit theorem for the conditional probability distribution and show that it is given by the Konno's density function modified by a pre-factor ensuring that the distribution vanishes at the origin. In addition, we discuss the relation to the problem of recurrence of a quantum walk and determine the Polya number. Our approach is based on path counting and stationary phase approximation.

The measurement process plays a crucial role in quantum mechanics as it interrupts the unitary evolution of a state. The consequences are apparent when investigating the return probability (Polya-number) of a particle in a Hadamard walk on the line [1, 2]: Depending on whether the evolution is restarted or continued after the measurement, either a transient or a recurrent evolution can be observed. We investigate both cases experimentally for the first time and monitor the evolution of the walker over 39 steps, revealing the fundamental differences of the two cases as predicted by theory: In the restart-regime, the Polya-number will gradually approach 1. In contrast, the continue-regime yields an asymptotic value of 2/π.

Properties of the probability distribution generated by a discrete-time quantum walk, such as the number of peaks it contains, depend strongly on the choice of the initial condition. In the present paper we discuss from this point of view the model of the two-dimensional quantum walk analyzed in K. Watabe et al., Phys. Rev. A 77, 062331, (2008). We show that the limit density can be altered in such a way that it vanishes on the boundary or some line. Using this result one can suppress certain peaks in the probability distribution. The analysis is simplified considerably by choosing a more suitable basis of the coin space, namely the one formed by the eigenvectors of the coin operator.

We consider a quantum walk with two marked vertices, sender and receiver, and analyze its application to perfect state transfer on complete bipartite graphs. First, the situation with both the sender and the receiver vertex in the same part of the graph is considered. We show that in this case the dynamics of the quantum walk is independent of the size of the second part and reduces to the one for the star graph where perfect state transfer is achieved. Second, we consider the situation where the sender and the receiver vertex are in the opposite parts of the graph. In such a case, the state transfer with unit fidelity is achieved only when the parts have the same size.

Coherent transport of excitations along chains of coupled quantum systems represents an interesting problem with a number of applications ranging from quantum optics to solar cell technology. A convenient tool for studying such processes are quantum walks. They allow us to determine all the process features in a quantitative way. We study the survival probability and the transport efficiency on a simple, highly symmetric graph represented by a ring. The propagation of excitation is modeled by a discrete-time (coined) quantum walk. For a two-state quantum walk, where the excitation (walker) has to leave its actual position to the neighboring sites, the survival probability decays exponentially and the transport efficiency is unity. The decay rate of the survival probability can be estimated using the leading eigenvalue of the evolution operator. However, if the excitation is allowed to stay at its present position, i.e. the propagation is modeled by a lazy quantum walk, then part of the wave-packet can be trapped in the vicinity of the origin and never reaches the sink. In such a case, the survival probability does not vanish and the excitation transport is not efficient. The dependency of the transport efficiency on the initial state is determined. Nevertheless, we show that for some lazy quantum walks dynamical, percolations of the ring eliminate the trapping effect and efficient excitation transport can be achieved.