Quantum optical implementation of open quantum walks

Abstract

A quantum optical implementation of the recently proposed open quantum walks (OQWs) is suggested. In the presented quantum optical scheme a two level atom plays the role of the "walker" and the Fock states of the cavity mode correspond to the lattice sites of the OQW. Using the small unitary rotations approach the effective dynamics of the system is shown to be an OQW. The presented scheme allows for a simple physical implementation of the OQW formalism, but it can be extended to create more diverse OQWs.