  The notion of a qubit is ubiquitous in quantum information processing. In
spite of the simple abstract definition of qubits as two-state quantum systems,
identifying qubits in physical systems is often unexpectedly difficult. There
are an astonishing variety of ways in which qubits can emerge from devices.
What essential features are required for an implementation to properly
instantiate a qubit? We give three typical examples and propose an operational
characterization of qubits based on quantum observables and subsystems.
