Genetic Synthesis of Compact Quaternary Reversible Comparators for Quantum Computing

Reversible logic is fundamental to quantum circuit design, as quantum operations are inherently information-preserving and reversible. While most quantum synthesis methods rely on binary logic, quaternary reversible computing can increase data density, reduce circuit width, and potentially lead to more efficient realizations. We introduce a genetic-algorithm-based approach for designing compact quaternary reversible comparator circuits, which are important components in quantum architectures. This technique utilizes a gate library based on extended Shift and Muthukrishnan–Stroud gates tailored to quaternary systems. Chromosomes encode sequences of quaternary gates, and evolutionary operators search for configurations with minimal quantum cost. Although demonstrated on comparator circuits, the approach applies to any quaternary reversible circuit defined by its truth table. The synthesis process occurs in two phases: candidate circuits first evolve toward correct behavior; then correct circuits are optimized to obtain compact implementations. We evaluate the approach on comparators performing lower-than, greater-than, and equality operations, as well as on a 1-qudit full comparator. The method achieves average quantum cost improvements of about 30% for restoring and 58% for non-restoring configurations compared to existing designs. These reductions support more efficient and more error-resilient quantum circuits, showing that this approach is a strong candidate for quaternary quantum systems.