potential states: up or down, Bansil says.

To get a better sense of what a qubit is and how it can be applied to

future computers and sensors, it's important to understand how data is
processed in existing "classical" computers. Classical computers use bits
to perform computations. When you're doing almost anything on a
computer, you're sending it a set of instructions that engages a central
processing unit, or CPU. The CPU is made of circuitry that uses
electrical signals to direct the whole computer to carry out program
instructions that are stored in the system's memory.

These signals communicate using information that's encoded, or

packaged, into bits. The information is represented numerically in one of
two values: 0 or 1, which describe the states of various circuits as being
either on or off. All modern electronic devices operate through circuit
components that send and receive information by essentially
manipulating these 0s and 1s, Bansil says.

Qubits behave quite differently from existing bits, thanks to not-well-

understood quantum mechanical properties. What makes a qubit
different is that its values are fluid, meaning—and here's where things
get weird—they can be both 0 and 1 at the same time. This is because of
something called superposition, a core principle of quantum mechanics
that states that a quantum system can exist in multiple states at a given
time until it is measured.

Quantum information systems instead can use the probability that a qubit
will be in one or another state when measured, or observed, to make
calculations.

"What is unique about a quantum bit is that it can essentially code two
different states at the same time," Bansil says. "You are in a position to
actually in principle store a very large number of possibilities in a very

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