Quantum random walk of two photons in separable and entangled states

Abstract

We discuss quantum random walk of two photons using linear optical elements. We analyze the quantum random walk using photons in a variety of quantum states including entangled states. We find that for photons initially in separable Fock states, the final state is entangled. For polarization entangled photons produced by type-II downconverter, we calculate the joint probability of detecting two photons at a given site. We show the remarkable dependence of the two photon detection probability on the quantum nature of the state. In order to understand the quantum random walk, we present exact analytical results for small number of steps such as five. We present in detail numerical results for a number of cases and supplement the numerical results with asymptotic analytical results.