Reversible arithmetic logic unit for quantum arithmetic
Michael Kirkedal Thomsen, Robert Glück, Holger Bock Axelsen · Journal of Physics A Mathematical and Theoretical · 2010
This communication presents the complete design of a reversible arithmetic logic unit (ALU) that can be part of a programmable reversible computing device such as a quantum computer. The presented ALU is garbage free and uses reversible updates to combine the standard reversible arithmetic and logical operations in one unit. Combined with a suitable control unit, the ALU permits the construction of an r-Turing complete computing device. The garbage-free ALU developed in this communication requires only 6 n elementary reversible gates for five basic arithmetic–logical operations on two n -bit operands and does not use ancillae. This remarkable low resource consumption was achieved by generalizing the V-shape design first introduced for quantum ripple-carry adders and nesting multiple V-shapes in a novel integrated design. This communication shows that the realization of an efficient reversible ALU for a programmable computing device is possible and that the V-shape design is a very versatile approach to the design of quantum networks.