Update main branch

[Copilot]

Reference Issues/PRs

Syncs main with dev branch additions.

What does this implement/fix? Explain your changes.

Dev has several new additions that should be on main:

• CARL example implementation
• Other accumulated improvements from dev branch

Checklist

• Are the tests passing locally? yes
• Is the pre-commit passing locally? yes
• Are all new features documented in code and docs? yes
• Are all examples still running? yes
• Are the requirements up to date? yes
• Did you add yourself to the contributors in the authors file? n/a

Any other comments?

This is a sync from dev to main to bring over accumulated improvements.

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