Programming news · February 2026
Superconducting circuits make momentum a resource for reversible logic
In “Momentum-Driven Reversible Logic Accelerates Efficient Irreversible Universal Computation,” Kuen Wai Tang, Kyle Ray and James Crutchfield build NAND-style gates from coupled quantum-flux-parametron devices — Josephson-junction circuits configured as a two-bit logical unit.
Their Erasure-Flip operation treats momentum as a computational resource and beats the standard metastable approach on both fidelity and speed while adding no energy cost. By combining reversible logic in some subspaces with irreversible operations in others, the design captures the efficiency of reversibility together with the universality of conventional computing.
The authors call the protocol ripe for experimental realisation, making it a concrete step toward practical superconducting adiabatic logic and a vivid example of physics being recruited directly into low-energy computation.