Communications of the ACM
Entangle Qubits for a True Random Number Machine
Pure randomness is surprisingly difficult to create, even if you draw on the inherent randomness of quantum mechanics. Now, though, a "true" random number generator is on the cards, which may help create the ultimate cryptographic messages.
Existing quantum random number generators are only as reliable as their parts. For example, some devices send single photons through a beam-splitter and record the path taken, but a pattern could emerge over time if the beam-splitter comes to favour one direction or the materials degrade. A new number generator produces random strings of numbers without the worry of such flaws, because it relies on the inherently random behaviour of two quantum-entangled objects.
The new number generator relies on the inherently random behaviour of two entangled objects
Entangled objects violate the "Bell inequalities," which provides mathematical proof that their behaviour is definitively random. It doesn't matter who made the objects or how, says team member Antonio Acin of the Institute for Photonic Sciences in Barcelona, Spain.
From New Scientist
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