  We propose a new method for designing quantum search algorithms for finding a
"marked" element in the state space of a classical Markov chain. The algorithm
is based on a quantum walk \'a la Szegedy (2004) that is defined in terms of
the Markov chain. The main new idea is to apply quantum phase estimation to the
quantum walk in order to implement an approximate reflection operator. This
operator is then used in an amplitude amplification scheme. As a result we
considerably expand the scope of the previous approaches of Ambainis (2004) and
Szegedy (2004). Our algorithm combines the benefits of these approaches in
terms of being able to find marked elements, incurring the smaller cost of the
two, and being applicable to a larger class of Markov chains. In addition, it
is conceptually simple and avoids some technical difficulties in the previous
analyses of several algorithms based on quantum walk.
