You might be familiar with the qubit, the fundamental unit of quantum information. As its name suggests, a qubit in a quantum computer performs the same function as a bit in a classical computer, with a major difference: Qubits can be treated as a 0 or 1 simultaneously, allowing quantum systems to process information much more rapidly than the fastest classical systems. But there’s also a qudit, a different way of storing and making use of quantum information. Gizmodo spoke to Christine Muschik, a quantum researcher at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and the University of Waterloo, Ontario, about the computational unit, which could capitalize on a key tenet of quantum systems to do more complicated computing than classical computers are capable of. Muschik’s team published research last week in Nature Physics that they say “open the door for hardware-efficient quantum simulations of gauge theories with qudits in near-term quantum devices.” Muschik’s new paper comes on the heels of a 2021 paper on the same subject, published in PRX Quantum.

Full explanation : What to Know about the ‘Qudit’—and How It Could Change Quantum Computing.