Realization of Quantum Walks with Negligible Decoherence in Waveguide Lattices

Hagai B. Perets, Yoav Lahini, Francesca Pozzi, Marc Sorel, Roberto Morandotti, and Yaron Silberberg
Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 170506 – Published 2 May 2008

Abstract

Quantum random walks are the quantum counterpart of classical random walks, and were recently studied in the context of quantum computation. Physical implementations of quantum walks have only been made in very small scale systems severely limited by decoherence. Here we show that the propagation of photons in waveguide lattices, which have been studied extensively in recent years, are essentially an implementation of quantum walks. Since waveguide lattices are easily constructed at large scales and display negligible decoherence, they can serve as an ideal and versatile experimental playground for the study of quantum walks and quantum algorithms. We experimentally observe quantum walks in large systems (100 sites) and confirm quantum walks effects which were studied theoretically, including ballistic propagation, disorder, and boundary related effects.

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  • Received 24 September 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.100.170506

©2008 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

Hagai B. Perets1,*, Yoav Lahini1, Francesca Pozzi2, Marc Sorel2, Roberto Morandotti3, and Yaron Silberberg1

  • 1Faculty of Physics, The Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100 Rehovot, Israel
  • 2Department of Electronics & Electrical Engineering, University of Glasgow, Glasgow G12 8QQ, Scotland, United Kingdom
  • 3Institute National de la Recherche Scientifique, Universitá du Quebec, Varennes, Quebec J3X 1S2, Canada

  • *hagai.perets@weizmann.ac.il

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Vol. 100, Iss. 17 — 2 May 2008

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