The implementation of quantum walks using classical light
Sandeep K. Goyal, Filippus Stefanus Roux, Andrew Forbes, Thomas R. Konrad · Proceedings of SPIE, the International Society for Optical Engineering/Proceedings of SPIE · 2014
A quantum walk is the quantum analog of the classical random walks. Despite their simple structure they form a universal platform to implement any algorithm of quantum computation. However, it is very hard to realize quantum walks with a sufficient number of iterations in quantum systems due to their sensitivity to environmental influences and subsequent loss of coherence. Here we present a scalable implementation scheme for one-dimensional quantum walks for arbitrary number of steps using the orbital angular momentum modes of classical light beams. Furthermore, we show that using the same setup with a minor adjustment we can also realize electric quantum walks.