Controlling quantum walks with coin eigenstates

Abstract: The control of quantum walk is made particularly transparent when the initial state is expressed in terms of the eigenstates of the coin operator. We show that the group-velocity density acquires a much simpler form when expressed in this basis. This allows us to obtain a much deeper understanding of the role of the initial coin state on the dynamics of quantum walks and control it. We find that the eigenvectors of the coin result in an extremal regime of a quantum walk. The approach is illustrated on two examples of quantum walks on a line.