Balanced ternary reversible comparator for qutrit quantum circuits

Abstract In recent years, quantum computing has emerged as a leading approach for accelerating complex computations, leveraging quantum parallelism and entanglement to surpass classical limits. Although numerous quantum circuits based on reversible gates have been proposed, optimizing circuit efficiency remains a critical challenge, particularly in the noisy intermediate-scale quantum era, where error rates and coherence times constrain performance. Ternary quantum computing, which operates on three-level quantum systems (qutrits), offers a promising alternative by reducing circuit complexity and resource overhead. In particular, balanced ternary logic presents advantages over conventional ternary logic by enhancing resource efficiency and potentially mitigating quantum gate error rates. This paper focuses on two key objectives: first, the synthesis of a reversible 1-qutrit comparator circuit using balanced ternary logic, and second, the extension to a generalized n-qutrit comparator. The proposed 1-qutrit comparator achieves notable improvements over existing unbalanced designs, demonstrating a 65% reduction in quantum cost, 50% fewer constant inputs, and a 33% decrease in garbage outputs. These results highlight the potential of balanced ternary logic to enhance the efficiency of quantum circuits, making it a valuable contribution to the development of scalable and error-resilient quantum hardware.