Discrete-time quantum walk dispersion control through long-range correlations

Abstract: We investigate the evolution dynamics of inhomogeneous discrete-time one-dimensional quantum walks displaying long-range correlations in both space and time. The associated quantum coin operators are built to exhibit a random inhomogeneity distribution of long-range correlations embedded in the time evolution protocol through a fractional Brownian motion with spectrum following a power-law behavior, $S(k)\sim 1/k^{\nu}$. The power-law correlated disorder encoded in the phases of the quantum coin is shown to give rise to a wide variety of spreading patterns of the qubit states, from localized to subdiffusive, diffusive, and superdiffusive (including ballistic) behavior, depending on the relative strength of the parameters driving the correlation degree. Dispersion control is then possible in one-dimensional discrete-time quantum walks by suitably tunning the long-range correlation properties assigned to the inhomogeneous quantum coin operator.