Michael P. Frank

Public research products and media appearances, mid-2022 – present (reverse chronological).
Senior Scientist, Vaire Computing (since 2024); previously Sandia National Laboratories.
See also: mirror of Sandia research page · Google Scholar · @MikePFrank

2026

Jul 17, 2026Conference Paper
Discrete Semantics for Reversible Transistor Network Verification
H. Blyton & H. Potter (Vaire Computing) — Reversible Computation (RC 2026), Springer LNCS vol. 16626. Work by Vaire colleagues, with M. P. Frank acknowledged; formalizes an adiabatic transition relation on transistor-network states in Lean 4, with a machine-checked discrete adiabatic simulation algorithm.
Paper (Springer) Code: Lean 4 proofs Code: Python simulator Code: Rust simulator
Jul 13, 2026Preprint
How High Can Q Go? Asymptotic Scaling of the Quality Factor of Helical-Coil LC Resonators in the Low-Frequency Limit
Claude (Fable 5, Anthropic) & M. P. Frank — Zenodo preprint, v1.6 (CC-BY 4.0)
Zenodo record DOI Interactive visualization Sci-fi story (PDF) Technical treatment (PDF)
Establishes Θ(ω−1/3) scaling of achievable resonator Q at low frequency — relevant to power-clock resonator design for adiabatic circuits.
Jun–Jul 2026Game / Software
Fluxonaut — a puzzle game about ballistic asynchronous reversible computing in superconductors
Browser game "played on the actual physics" of BARC fluxon logic; releases v1.0–v1.2, Jun 28 – Jul 3, 2026 (built with AI assistance)
Play online GitHub repo Releases Announcement (v1.2) Announcement (launch)
May 5, 2026Patent
Ballistic Superconducting Circuit for Asynchronous Reversible Logic Element — U.S. Patent 12,620,993
R. M. Lewis, M. P. Frank, S. B. Kaplan (Sandia National Laboratories)
Patent (USPTO PDF) Announcement
Apr 15, 2026Media
"Vaire bets on reversible chips"
Jon Peddie Research — TechWatch
Article
Jan 20, 2026Media
"The Future Is Reversible"
Communications of the ACM
Article (ACM DL)
Jan 12, 2026Podcast
Hyperstition #6: "Vaire and Reversible Computing"
Hyperstition podcast (Deep Tech Week) — video interview
Video (YouTube)

2025

Nov 14, 2025Invited Talk
Adiabatic Reversible CMOS (ARC): From Theory to Commercialization
IEEE Circuits and Systems (CAS) Society, Dallas Section Chapter, Invited Speaker Series — Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX
Slides (PDF) Slides announcement Talk announcement
Oct 10, 2025Talk
Adiabatic Reversible CMOS (ARC) for More Efficient Digital Compute — Principles and Technology Roadmap
Invited talk, University of Waterloo (joint Vaire / Extropic event); slides released Oct 23, 2025
Slides (PDF) Announcement
Sep 29, 2025Journal Article
Industry Perspective: Limits of Energy Efficiency for Conventional CMOS and the Need for Adiabatic Reversible Computing
M. P. Frank & A. J. Edwards — APL Electronic Devices 1(3), 030902 — Vaire's first peer-reviewed journal article; reports results of the 2022 DOE/LPS study at Sandia
Article (AIP) DOI Announcement
Sep 23, 2025Media
"This experimental computer chip reuses energy"
Science News — coverage of Vaire's test-chip results
Article
Sep 4, 2025Media
"Vaire Demos Energy Recovery With Reversible Computing Test Chip"
EE Times — feature article with interviews on the Ice River test-chip results
Article Announcement
Aug 2025Invited Paper
Near-Landauer VCMA-Propagated Reversible Skyrmion Logic
B. W. Walker, K. Muthukrishnan, E. Rivas, E. C. Usih, M. P. Frank, et al. — SPIE Spintronics XVIII (paper 13586-37, proceedings vol. PC13586), San Diego
SPIE proceedings volume Related preprint (arXiv)
Jul 1, 2025Media
"Reversible computing can help reclaim your chip's wasted energy"
Interesting Engineering
Article
Jun 2025Video Interview
"Reversible computing and near zero-energy silicon chips"
Silicon Semiconductor — video interview with M. P. Frank and Vaire CEO Rodolfo Rosini
Video
May 30, 2025Media
"How Can AI Researchers Save Energy? By Going Backward."
Quanta Magazine — profile of the reversible-computing quest, featuring M. P. Frank
Article
May 20, 2025Media
"Startup working on 'reversible computing' chip for AI says initial tests show a 50% energy savings"
Fortune (Jeremy Kahn) — first public coverage of Vaire's Ice River test-chip results
Article (Fortune) Non-paywalled mirror (Yahoo) Vaire announcement (LinkedIn)
Mar–Apr 2025Talks
A Universal Circuit Element for Ballistic Asynchronous Reversible Computing in Superconductors
R. M. Lewis, M. P. Frank, S. B. Kaplan — US Committee for Superconducting Electronics Josephson Junction Workshop, Santa Fe, NM, Apr 6–10, 2025 (SAND2025-04647C); also presented as "Superconducting Elements for Ballistic Reversible Computing" at the APS Global Physics Summit, Mar 21, 2025. Universal BARCS element first demonstrated in simulation, Jun 2024; improved (self-timed after initialization), Sep 2024.
Slides (PDF, latest) OSTI record APS abstract Talk announcement Development thread (2024)
Feb 2025Journal Article
First-Principles Derivation of Fluxon Viscosity and Associated Stopping Distance in Long Josephson Junctions
M. P. Frank, R. M. Lewis, S. B. Kaplan — IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity 35(5) (Early Access Jan 15, 2025; final Feb 2025). Presented as a poster at ASC 2024 (Sep 2024).
Article (IEEE Xplore) DOI Preprint (PDF) ASC'24 poster (PDF) Announcement
Jan 16, 2025Media
"This New Chip is Defying the Laws of Physics"
Anastasi In Tech (YouTube) — feature on Vaire Computing
Video (YouTube)
Jan 2, 2025Media
"Reversible Computing Escapes the Lab in 2025"
IEEE Spectrum — startup plans the first chip based on reversible computing (~4,000× energy-efficiency potential)
Article (web) Magazine version (IEEE Xplore)
Jan 2, 2025Media
"Here, Vaire, and everywhere: A bet on billions of reversible computing chips"
Data Center Dynamics — in-depth analysis feature
Article

2024

Dec 23, 2024Media
"How to fix computing's AI energy problem: run everything backwards"
New Scientist — includes quotes from M. P. Frank and Vaire CTO Hannah Earley
Article
Nov 11, 2024Concept Writeup
VotingZone — an end-to-end election-integrity system concept (thread)
X thread summarizing a 2008 invention for verifiable election integrity
Thread
Oct 19, 2024Article
"My AI bots on Telegram"
X (long-form article) — survey of self-hosted AI bot hobby projects
Article (X)
Sep 2024Poster
Logically Reversible Rotary Element for Asynchronous Ballistic Reversible Computing
R. M. Lewis, S. B. Kaplan, M. P. Frank — poster, Applied Superconductivity Conference 2024, Salt Lake City, UT (SAND2024-10977C)
OSTI record (with PDF) DOI
Aug 30, 2024Fun
"Erasure = Bad :(" — AI-generated song on the theme of reversible computing
Made with the Vaire team using Suno
Listen (Suno) Announcement
Jun 2024Software
Maximum Switching Throughput Density Estimator
M. P. Frank & A. J. Edwards — MATLAB tool estimating maximum logic-switching throughput density (conventional vs. fully adiabatic CMOS) across IRDS 2022 technology nodes; DOE CODE ID 145506. Results presented in the CoMET 2023 talk below.
Code (GitHub) OSTI / DOE CODE record DOI
Jun 6, 2024Invited Talk
The Economic Case for Reversible Computing Technology
MIT CSAIL FutureTech group seminar
Slides (PDF) Announcement

2023

Nov 2023Article
"Stretching the Thermodynamic Limits of HPC Efficiency"
Sandia HPC Annual Report — article on M. P. Frank's reversible-computing research program
Article
Oct 2023Invited Talk
Limits of CMOS and Prospects for Adiabatic/Reversible CMOS
Texas Symposium on Computing with Emerging Technologies (CoMET), UT Dallas — invited talk, plus panel briefing "Touchpoints Between Classical Reversible Computing and Superconductive & Quantum Computing"
Talk slides (PDF) Talk video (YouTube) Panel slides (PDF)
Jun 6, 2023Patent
Oscillator for Adiabatic Computational Circuitry — U.S. Patent 11,671,054
R. W. Brocato & M. P. Frank (Sandia National Laboratories); application published Apr 13, 2023
Patent (USPTO PDF) Application publication (PDF)
May 2023Seminar
The Asynchronous Ballistic Approach to Reversible Computing in Superconductors
LPS Advanced Computing Systems Technical Update — invited seminar
Slides (PDF)
May 2023Talk
Ballistic Asynchronous Reversible Computing in Superconducting Circuits
International Symposium on Roadmapping Devices and Systems (ISRDS 2023)
Slides (PDF)
Mar 2023Journal Article
Magnetic Skyrmions and Domain Walls for Logical and Neuromorphic Computing
X. Hu, C. Cui, S. Liu, F. García-Sánchez, W. H. Brigner, B. W. Walker, et al. (incl. M. P. Frank) — Neuromorphic Computing and Engineering 3(2)
Article (IOP, open access)
Jan–Mar 2023Preprint
Near-Landauer Reversible Skyrmion Logic with Voltage-Based Propagation
B. W. Walker, A. J. Edwards, X. Hu, M. P. Frank, F. García-Sánchez, et al. — GOMACTech 2023; arXiv:2301.10700 (later an invited paper at SPIE Spintronics XVIII, 2025)
Preprint (arXiv)
Feb 2023Journal Article
Two Circuits for Directing and Controlling Ballistic Fluxons
R. M. Lewis & M. P. Frank — IEEE Transactions on Applied Superconductivity 33(5)
Article (IEEE Xplore) OSTI record (open access)

2022

Dec 2022Podcast
"Reversible Computing and Digital Technology Trends"
"It's About Time!" Clubhouse show, hosted by Paul Borrill — audio interview
Replay (Clubhouse)
Dec 2022Conference Paper
Ballistic Asynchronous Reversible Computing in Superconducting Circuits
M. P. Frank & R. M. Lewis — IEEE International Conference on Rebooting Computing (ICRC 2022); includes the BARCS element-classifier software. Also panel presentation: "Continued Efficiency Scaling of General Digital Compute via Reversible Computing"
Paper (IEEE Xplore) Preprint (PDF) Talk slides (PDF) Code (GitHub: sandialabs/barcs) Software DOI (DOE CODE) Panel slides (PDF)
Nov 2022Roadmap
IEEE International Roadmap for Devices and Systems — Beyond CMOS chapter (2022 edition)
Contributing editor
Chapter (IRDS)
Sep 2022Invited Talk
The Asynchronous Ballistic Approach to Reversible Superconducting Logic
JSPS 146th Committee International Symposium (ISSE)
Slides (PDF)
Jul 2022Position Paper
Reversible Computing Technology is Essential for Sustainable Growth of the Digital Economy
M. P. Frank & T. M. Conte — HotCarbon 2022 (Workshop on Sustainable Computer Systems Design and Implementation)
Preprint (PDF)
Jul 2022Abstract
Classifying the Potential Functional Behaviors of Superconducting Circuit Elements in the BARC Paradigm
International Conference on Reversible Computation (RC 2022)
Abstract (PDF)
Jun–Jul 2022Conference Paper
Auditable, Available and Resilient Private Computation on the Blockchain via MPC
C. Cordi, M. P. Frank, K. Gabert, C. Helinski, R. C. Kao, V. Kolesnikov, A. Ladha, et al. — CSCML 2022 (Int'l Symposium on Cyber Security, Cryptology and Machine Learning)
Preprint (IACR ePrint) Code (GitHub: sandialabs/GABLE)
May 2022Journal Article
Logical and Physical Reversibility of Conservative Skyrmion Logic
X. Hu, B. W. Walker, F. García-Sánchez, A. J. Edwards, P. Zhou, J. A. C. Incorvia, et al. (incl. M. P. Frank) — IEEE Magnetics Letters 13. (Slightly before the mid-2022 cutoff; included for completeness.)
Article (IEEE Xplore) Preprint (arXiv) OSTI (open access PDF)