Annealing method for operating quantum-cellular-automaton systems
Masamichi Akazawa, Yoshiyuki Amemiya, Naoaki Shibata · Journal of Applied Physics · 1997
We propose an annealing method as an effective way of operating quantum-cellular-automaton (QCA) systems, which are devices for computation that utilize the minimum energy state of electrons in a quantum cell system. A QCA system has an energy function with many local minima and therefore cannot be operated as desired if placed under the conditions of a thermodynamically open system. Accordingly, for successful operation of a QCA system (i.e., making the QCA system converge successfully to its minimum-energy state), we propose a method of operation based on the concept of thermodynamic annealing. We simulate the dynamics of various QCA logic-gate systems operated by this annealing method, and show that data processing in QCA systems can be carried out accurately by means of this annealing method. The applicability of QCA systems to non-Neumann parallel-processing computation is also described.