Department of Physics, Boston University , 590 Commonwealth Avenue, Boston, Massachusetts 02215, United States.
Nano Lett. 2014 Jan 8;14(1):89-93. doi: 10.1021/nl403268b. Epub 2013 Dec 13.
Irreversible logic operations inevitably discard information, setting fundamental limitations on the flexibility and the efficiency of modern computation. To circumvent the limit imposed by the von Neumann-Landauer (VNL) principle, an important objective is the development of reversible logic gates, as proposed by Fredkin, Toffoli, Wilczek, Feynman, and others. Here, we present a novel nanomechanical logic architecture for implementing a Fredkin gate, a universal logic gate from which any reversible computation can be built. In addition to verifying the truth table, we demonstrate operation of the device as an AND, OR, NOT, and FANOUT gate. Excluding losses due to resonator dissipation and transduction, which will require significant improvement in order to minimize the overall energy cost, our device requires an energy of order 10(4) kT per logic operation, similar in magnitude to state-of-the-art transistor-based technologies. Ultimately, reversible nanomechanical logic gates could play a crucial role in developing highly efficient reversible computers, with implications for efficient error correction and quantum computing.
不可逆逻辑运算不可避免地会丢弃信息，从而对现代计算的灵活性和效率造成根本性的限制。为了规避冯·诺依曼-兰德auer（von Neumann-Landauer，VNL）原理施加的限制，一个重要的目标是开发如弗雷德金（Fredkin）、托弗里（Toffoli）、威尔切克（Wilczek）、费曼（Feynman）等人所提出的可逆逻辑门。在这里，我们提出了一种新颖的纳米机械逻辑架构，用于实现弗雷德金门（Fredkin gate），这是一种通用的逻辑门，任何可逆计算都可以通过它构建。除了验证真值表之外，我们还展示了该器件作为与门、或门、非门和扇出门的操作。排除由于谐振器耗散和转换而导致的损耗（为了最小化整体能量成本，这需要显著改进），我们的器件每进行一次逻辑操作需要约 10(4) kT 的能量，与基于晶体管的最先进技术相当。最终，可逆纳米机械逻辑门可能在开发高效可逆计算机方面发挥关键作用，这对高效纠错和量子计算具有重要意义。
