Nonclassicality of a Macroscopic Qubit-Ensemble via Parity Measurement Induced Disturbance

TL;DR

This paper proposes an experimental scheme to demonstrate the nonclassicality of a macroscopic qubit ensemble by violating macrorealism through parity measurements, showing quantum effects persist at large scales despite decoherence.

Contribution

It introduces a method to test nonclassicality in large qubit ensembles using parity measurements, highlighting the persistence of quantum violations at macroscopic scales.

Findings

Violation of macrorealism detectable up to 100 qubits with current technology.

Quantum-to-classical transition driven by decoherence and inhomogeneity.

Violation persists even as effective Planck's constant approaches zero.

Abstract

We propose an experimental scheme to test the nonclassicality of a macroscopic ensemble of qubits, through the violation of the classical notion of macrorealism (MR) via the fundamental measurement-induced disturbance of quantum systems. An electromagnetic resonator is used to probe the parity of the qubit-ensemble. The action of sequential measurements allows the nonclassicality of whole ensemble to manifest itself, in the ideal case, irrespective of its size. This enables to probe the macroscopic limits of quantum mechanics as the qubit-ensemble is, effectively, a single large spin of many $\hbar$ units. Even as $\hbar \rightarrow 0$ in comparison to the total angular momentum of the ensemble, a constant amount of violation of MR is found in the noiseless case. However, environmental decoherence and inhomogeneity of qubit-electromagnetic field couplings precipitate the quantum-to-classical transition. This implies that Bohr's correspondence principle is not fundamental, but a consequence of practical limitations. We outline an implementation with a variety of qubits (superconducting qubits, spins in semiconductors, and Rydberg atoms) coupled to a coplanar waveguide resonator, and - via the corresponding noise analysis - find that violation of MR is detectable up to $100$ qubits via current technology.