Readout of quantum information spreading using a disordered quantum walk

Abstract

We design a quantum probing protocol using quantum walks to investigate the quantum information spreading pattern. We employ quantum Fisher information as a figure of merit to quantify extractable information about an unknown parameter encoded within the quantum walk evolution. Although the approach is universal, we focus on the coherent static and dynamic disorder to investigate anomalous and classical transport as well as Anderson localization. We provide a feasible experimental strategy to implement, in principle, the quantum probing protocol based on the quantum Fisher information using a Mach–Zehnder-like interferometric setup. Our results show that a quantum walk can be considered as a readout device of information about defects and perturbations occurring in complex networks, both classical and quantum.