A quantum walk is an extension, in quantum mechanics, of a classical random walk. Using the properties of quantum superposition states, the walking properties of particles need to be interpreted by the statistical laws of wave functions in quantum mechanics. 

The 12-qubit genuine multipartite entangled state was previously achieved by a team led by CAS Academician PAN Jianwei, also a professor from the University of Science and Technology of China. Using this earlier work as a basis, the team collaborated with a group of theoretical researchers from the Institute of Physics of the Chinese Academy of Sciences to demonstrate for the first time the quantum walk of a strongly correlated system in a solid-state quantum system. The time-dependent evolution of high-fidelity states, entanglement and correlation functions in a space-time light cone were observed. With the introduction of two-particle excitation, fermionization of strongly correlated photon pairs was experimentally observed, thus depicting the anti-bunching behavior of photons. 

Results were published online in Science on May 2, 2019. This work laid the foundation for future simulation of multi-body physical phenomena using quantum walks and general quantum computing research. 

Quantum walks of strongly correlated photon pairs in 12 one-dimensional superconducting qubits 

Related Articles:

Go Random Walking, 12-qubits--A Step for Many-body Quantum Random Walks