  We present a study of the effects of decoherence in the operation of a
discrete quantum walk on a line, cycle and hypercube. We find high sensitivity
to decoherence, increasing with the number of steps in the walk, as the
particle is becoming more delocalised with each step. However, the effect of a
small amount of decoherence is to enhance the properties of the quantum walk
that are desirable for the development of quantum algorithms. Specifically, we
observe a highly uniform distribution on the line, a very fast mixing time on
the cycle, and more reliable hitting times across the hypercube.
