UNSW Sydney engineers have riffed on the famous Schrödinger’s cat analogy to demonstrate a more efficient way to eliminate errors in quantum computing.

“Imagine you’re trying to find your cat hiding in one of eight identical cardboard boxes, in a dark and noisy room,” says UNSW Scientia Professor Andrea Morello.

“You are not allowed to enter the room—opening the door may kill the cat. What is the optimal strategy to find out where it’s hiding? Our team of quantum researchers have found an answer to this problem, and it might be an important milestone on the road to building a quantum computer.”