Decoherence and disorder in quantum walks: from ballistic spread to localization

Phys Rev Lett. 2011 May 6;106(18):180403. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.180403. Epub 2011 May 6.

Abstract

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.