Bengaluru: Scientists at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) have built a six‑qubit photonic quantum system—the first-of-its-kind in the country—as part of the National Quantum Mission (NQM), a government programme to develop indigenous quantum‑technology capabilities.

Unlike normal computers that use a binary system operating with two states of 0s and 1s to store and process data, quantum computers rely on qubits, which follow the principle of “superposition”. The principle of superposition allows qubits to be in both states, 0 and 1, at the same time.

Superposition, along with quantum interference (when subatomic particles interact with and influence themselves and other particles while in a probabilistic superposition state) and entanglement (when two particles link together in a

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