Ignorance

Clear as Quantum

Jacq Romero reveals that "ignorance" can be a quantum superpower.

Jacq has won numerous awards for her research into the shape of photons, and has brought this work into mainstream quantum information. Information is usually encoded in 0s and 1s, but qudits (beyond qubits) could open a more interesting way to encode quantum information across more levels. It's like Schrödinger's cat that's both dead and alive - but you have the whole zoo! No matter how many levels are used, often the interesting and useful states are built by throwing away some information (engineering a kind of ignorance). We touch on the interesting philosophical implications as well as the mundane experimental requirements, and Jacq shares both inspiration and nightmare.

No matter how many letters are in your favourite quantum "alphabet", subscribe and share with your friends. We'd love to hear your quantum questions - send them to [e-mail] and we'll try to answer them in future episodes!