Qubit
The basic unit of quantum information, able to hold a superposition of 0 and 1 rather than one definite value. Physical qubits are noisy; useful computation needs many of them combined into error-corrected logical qubits.
Related terms
An error-corrected qubit assembled from many noisy physical qubits. Logical qubits are the meaningful unit for cryptographic threat estimates, and current ratios run from hundreds to thousands of physical qubits per logical one.
Techniques that protect quantum information from noise by spreading one logical qubit across many physical ones. It is the central engineering obstacle between today's machines and a cryptographically relevant one.
The property that lets a quantum system hold a combination of states at once. Superposition alone does not make quantum computers fast — the speedups come from interference that amplifies correct answers.