qubit
nounUK /ˈkjuːbɪt/ · US /ˈkjubɪt/
Etymology Blend of quantum + bit, a play on cubit (“historical unit of length”). Coined by American physicist Benjamin Schumacher in 1995.
1
A quantum bit; the basic unit of quantum information described by a superposition of two states; a quantum bit in a quantum computer capable of being in a state of superposition; A binary qudit.
Quantum computing
- Quantum computing, on the other hand, is based on quantum bits, or qubits.2006 March 25, NewScientist, page 42/2:
- Each extra qubit in a quantum machine doubles the number of simultaneous operations it can perform.2012 February 25, ‘An uncertain future’, The Economist:
2 more examples
- Google’s Sycamore computer has all of 53 qubits to its name, as does a new IBM computer, installed online at the company’s Quantum Computation Center in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. System One, IBM’s black cube from tomorrow, only has 20 qubits.2019 October 21, Dennis Overbye, “Quantum Computing Is Coming, Bit by Qubit”, in New York Times:
- By harnessing that odd behavior, scientists can instead build a quantum bit, or qubit, which stores a combination of 1 and 0. Two qubits can hold four values at once. And as the number of qubits grows, a quantum computer becomes exponentially more powerful.2019 October 23, Cade Metz, “Google Claims a Quantum Breakthrough That Could Change Computing”, in New York Times:
- Derived terms
- interqubit, multiqubit, qubitope, squbit, sub-qubit, triqubit