Experimental test of contextuality in quantum and classical systems

Abstract

Contextuality is considered as an intrinsic signature of non-classicality, and a crucial resource for achieving unique advantages of quantum information processing. However, recently there have been debates on whether classical fields may also demonstrate contextuality. Here we experimentally configure a contextuality test for optical fields, adopting various definitions of measurement events, and analyse how the definitions affect the emergence of non-classical correlations. The heralded single photon state, a typical non-classical light field, manifests contextuality in our setup, while contextuality for classical coherent fields strongly depends on the specific definition of measurement events which is equivalent to filtering the non-classical component of the input state. Our results highlight the importance of definition of measurement events to demonstrate contextuality, and link the contextual correlations to non-classicality defined by quasi-probabilities in phase space.