State-independent experimental tests of quantum contextuality in a three dimensional system

TL;DR

This paper reports an experimental demonstration of quantum contextuality in a three-level system using a trapped ion, showing violations of Kochen-Specker inequalities that are loophole-free and incompatible with non-contextual hidden variable theories.

Contribution

It provides the first state-independent test of quantum contextuality in a single trapped ion qutrit system, confirming fundamental quantum principles.

Findings

Observed state-independent violations of Kochen-Specker inequalities

Experiment free from detection loopholes

Results incompatible with non-contextual hidden variable models

Abstract

We experimentally observed state-independent violations of Kochen-Specker inequalities for the simplest indivisible quantum system manifesting quantum contextuality, a three-level (qutrit) system. We performed the experiment with a single trapped ^{171}Yb^{+} ion, by mapping three ground states of the ^{171}Yb^{+} ion to a qutrit system and carrying out quantum operatations by applying microwaves resonant to the qutrit transition frequencies. Our results are free from the detection loophole and cannot be explained by the non-contextual hidden variable models.