The ability to reliably prepare non-classical states will play a major role in the realization of quantum technology. NOON states, belonging to the class of Schrödinger cat states, have emerged as a leading candidate for several applications. Here we show how to generate NOON states in a model of dipolar bosons confined to a closed circuit of four sites. This is achieved by designing protocols to transform initial Fock states to NOON states through use of time evolution, application of an external field, and local projective measurements. The evolution time is independent of total particle number, offering an encouraging prospect for scalability. By variation of the external field strength, we demonstrate how the system can be controlled to encode a phase into a NOON state. We also discuss the physical feasibility, via ultracold dipolar atoms in an optical superlattice setup. Our proposal showcases the benefits of quantum integrable systems in the design of protocols.

Systems of interacting bosons in triple-well potentials are of significant theoretical and experimental interest. They are explored in contexts that range from quantum phase transitions and quantum dynamics to semiclassical analysis. Here, we systematically investigate the onset of quantum chaos in a triple-well model that moves away from integrability as its potential gets tilted. Even in its deepest chaotic regime, the system presents features reminiscent of integrability. Our studies are based on level spacing distribution and spectral form factor, structure of the eigenstates, and diagonal and off-diagonal elements of observables in relationship to the eigenstate thermalization hypothesis. With only three sites, the system's eigenstates are at the brink of becoming fully chaotic, so they do not yet exhibit Gaussian distributions, which resonates with the results for the observables.