Thermal Logic Gates: Computation with phonons

TL;DR

This paper introduces thermal logic gates that utilize phonons in nonlinear lattices to perform digital logic operations, highlighting their potential for nanoscale computing based on heat rather than electricity.

Contribution

It presents a novel approach to computing using phonons in thermal systems, expanding the concept of logic gates beyond electronic implementations.

Findings

Thermal logic gates can perform digital operations using heat carriers.

Nonlinear lattices exhibit temperature-dependent spectra enabling phonon-based information processing.

Potential for nanoscale experimental realization of thermal computing devices.

Abstract

Logic gates are basic digital elements for computers. We build up thermal logic gates that can perform similar operations as their electronic counterparts. The thermal logic gates are based on the nonlinear lattices, which exhibit very intriguing phenomena due to their temperature dependent power spectra. We demonstrate that phonons, the heat carriers, can be also used to carry information and processed accordingly. The possibility of nanoscale experiment is discussed.