Superconducting Elements for Ballistic Reversible Computing

Ballistic reversible computing seeks to reduce the energy cost per computational operation. Ballistic bits of data are routed through a network of gates that produce one-to-one mappings between the inputs and outputs. We encode data as ballistic flux solitons (fluxons) moving along long Josephson junctions. At points, the ballistic fluxons interact with other superconducting circuits which transmit, reflect, or route them as appropriate. We introduce the BARCS framework, ballistic asynchronous reversible computing with superconductors, and show simulations of how fluxons can be guided through networks of long Josephson junctions to produce universal logic. Specifically, we show results for time domain spice simulations of two circuits; (1) a controlled barrier that switchably reflects or transmit a fluxon, and (2) a rotary element that directs fluxons to a specified output.



This work was supported by the Laboratory of Physical Sciences through the Advanced Computing Initiative. Sandia National Laboratories is a multi-program laboratory managed and operated by National Technology and Engineering Solutions of Sandia, LLC., a wholly owned subsidiary of Honeywell International, Inc., for the U.S. Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration under contract DE-NA-0003525