1.4 Working with two qubits and entanglement

Now that we have mastered the inner workings of solitary qubits, we are ready to up the ante. In this section, we will learn about systems of two qubits and how they can become entangled. We will first define the mathematical representation of two-qubit systems and how we can measure them. After that, we will study different quantum gates that can act on two qubits at once and we will have a look at some of their very interesting and slightly puzzling properties. We will conclude with a simple but enlightening example of a two-qubit circuit. We promise that the ride is going to be amazing!

1.4.1 Two-qubit states

So far, we have worked with qubits in isolation. But the real power of quantum computing cannot be unleashed unless qubits can talk to each other. We will start by considering the simplest case of quantum systems in which there is qubit interaction: two-qubit systems.

Of course, in a two-qubit system, each of the qubits can be in...