An electronic device for implementing digital functions comprising a first and a second electrode regions, separated by an interposing region comprising a dielectric region, is described. The first and the second electrode regions comprise at least one first electrode and at least one second electrode, respectively, configured to generate in the interposing region an electric field depending on an electric potential difference applied thereto. In the interposing region, a molecular layer is comprised, which is composed of a plurality of molecules, each being capable of assuming one or more states, in a controllable manner, depending on a sensed electric field. The dielectric region has a spatially variable dielectric profile, to determine a respective spatially variable field profile of the sensed electric field at the molecular layer.

A method for operating a molecular computer solves an NP-complete mathematical problem, that includes obtaining a molecular sequence encoding an N-SAT problem having a plurality of clauses formed from a plurality of literals in conjunctive normal form, obtaining replicas of the molecular sequence, for each pair of replicas, editing the literal-encoding sequences having a variable symbol identifying a particular variable of the N-SAT problem such that, for one replica of the pair, a truth symbol is assigned a truth value representing true and, for the other replica of the pair, the truth symbol is assigned a truth value representing false, obtaining, from said editing, a pool of potential-solution sequences, each potential-solution sequence encoding a potential solution to the N-SAT problem, and identifying, from the pool of potential-solution sequences, a solution sequence, based on a determination that each encoded clause of a potential-solution sequence contains at least one true-evaluating literal-encoding sequence.

The present disclosure relates to a Turing machine having a reactor comprising a reactant solution comprising a reactant; a first chemical species source to provide a selected amount of a first chemical species; a second chemical species source to provide a selected amount of a second chemical species; one or more controllers coupled to control the addition of the first and second chemical species from the first and second chemical species sources responsive to an input; and a sensor positioned to sense changes in the reactant as the controller controls the first and second chemical species sources to add selected amounts of the respective first and second chemical species to the reactor. The controller receives signals corresponding to the state of the reactant and correlates the states of the reactant to a result that is computed as a function of the input.

The present invention provides a chemical computer comprising a matrix, an input device and an analytical device. The matrix comprises a plurality of interconnected reaction spaces holding a reaction mixture, and the reaction spaces are interconnected by fluid channels. The input device is for independently addressing each of a plurality of reaction spaces within the matrix, and to independently address one or more fluid channels. The analytical device has a sensor to analyse a reaction characteristic of a reaction mixture in one or more reaction spaces. Also provided the use of the chemical computer as such, and methods of computing using the chemical computer, where such methods comprise the step of addressing the reaction spaces, optionally addressing the fluid channels, and analysing a reaction characteristic of a reaction mixture in a reaction space.

The invention provides a chemical computer having a matrix, an input device and an analytical device. The matrix is a plurality of interconnected reaction spaces holding a reaction mixture; the input device is provided to independently address each of a plurality of reaction spaces within the matrix; and the analytical device has a sensor to analyse a reaction characteristic of a reaction mixture in one or more reaction spaces. Also provides are methods for using the chemical computer, and the use of the chemical computer as a logic gate.