Twenty years of quantum contextuality at USTC

TL;DR

This paper reviews 20 years of research at USTC on quantum contextuality, covering theoretical foundations, experimental tests with photons, and its implications for quantum information and computation.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive overview of USTC's advancements in understanding quantum contextuality, including experimental demonstrations and applications in quantum information science.

Findings

Experimental validation of quantum contextuality with photons

Development of theoretical proofs of state-independent contextuality

Exploration of contextuality's role in quantum computation

Abstract

Quantum contextuality is one of the most perplexing and peculiar features of quantum mechanics. Concisely, it refers to the observation that the result of a single measurement in quantum mechanics depends on the set of joint measurements actually performed. The study of contextuality has a long history at University of Science and Technology of China (USTC). Here we review the theoretical and experimental advances in this direction achieved at USTC over the last 20 years. We start by introducing the renowned simplest proof of state-independent contextuality. We then present several experimental tests of quantum versus noncontextual theories with photons. Finally, we discuss the investigation on the role of contextuality in general quantum information science and its application in quantum computation.