The role of coherence on two-particle quantum walks

Abstract

Abstract We investigate the dynamical properties of the two-boson quantum walk in systems with different degrees of coherence, and where the effect of the coherence on the two-boson quantum walk can be naturally introduced. A general analytical expression for the two-boson correlation function, for both pure states and mixed states, is given.We propose a possible two-photon quantum-walk scheme with a mixed initial state, and find that the twophoton correlation function and the average distance between two photons can be influenced by the initial photon distribution, the relative phase, or the degree of coherence. The propagation features of our numerical results can be explained by our analytical two-photon correlation function.