# Are We Computing Quantum in the Wrong Base? with Ivan Deutsch

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-new-quantum-era-innovation-in-quantum-computing-science-and-technology-5609388/are-we-computing-quantum-in-the-wrong-base-with-ivan-deutsch
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-new-quantum-era-innovation-in-quantum-computing-science-and-technology-5609388/are-we-computing-quantum-in-the-wrong-base-with-ivan-deutsch.md
Podcast: [The New Quantum Era - innovation in quantum computing, science and technology](https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-new-quantum-era-innovation-in-quantum-computing-science-and-technology-5609388)
Published: 2026-04-27T20:07:31+00:00
Episode link: https://newquantumera.transistor.fm/90
Audio file: https://op3.dev/e/dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/media.transistor.fm/9b2ac509/15a2ebce.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-new-quantum-era-innovation-in-quantum-computing-science-and-technology-5609388/episodes/are-we-computing-quantum-in-the-wrong-base-with-ivan-deutsch
Duration seconds: 2716

## Resource

Every commercial neutral-atom quantum computer today encodes information in just two energy levels of an atom that has many more — strontium has ten nuclear-spin levels, cesium has sixteen. Ivan Deutsch, one of the founding theorists of neutral-atom quantum computing, joins the podcast to ask whether binary is really the right base for quantum computation, and to make the case for spin cat codes: a fault-tolerant encoding that embeds a qubit inside the richer structure of a qudit, the way bosonic cat codes use microwave cavities. Along the way, Ivan traces three decades at UNM — from the earliest days of quantum information science to his role building Elevate Quantum, the only federally designated quantum Tech Hub in the United States.

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## Transcript

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