Experimental violation of the Leggett-Garg inequality in a 3-level system

TL;DR

This paper reports an experiment testing the Leggett-Garg inequality in a three-level quantum system using NMR, demonstrating a larger quantum upper bound and discussing the impact of measurement assumptions on the observed violation.

Contribution

It presents the first LG test on a three-level system with a modified measurement scheme, highlighting increased quantum bounds and the importance of measurement assumptions.

Findings

Larger quantum upper bound in a three-level system compared to two-level systems

Violation of the LG inequality observed with modified measurement scheme

Measurement non-invasiveness assumptions are critical for interpreting results

Abstract

The Leggett-Garg (LG) test of macroscopic realism involves a series of dichotomic non-invasive measurements that are used to calculate a function which has a fixed upper bound for a macrorealistic system and a larger upper bound for a quantum system. The quantum upper bound depends on both the details of the measurement and the dimension of the system. Here we present an LG experiment on a three-level quantum system, which produces a larger theoretical quantum upper bound than that of a two-level quantum system. The experiment is carried out in nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and consists of the LG test as well as a test of the ideal assumptions associated with the experiment, such as measurement non-invasiveness. The non-invasive measurements are performed via the modified ideal negative result measurement scheme on a three-level system. Once these assumptions are tested, the violation becomes small, despite the fact that the LG value itself is large. Our results showcase the advantages of using the modified measurement scheme that can reach the higher LG values, as they give more room for hypothetical malicious errors in a real experiment