Team uses quantum mechanics to make a factory for random number generators
Jasper Palfree, Gautam Kavuri and Krister Shalm. Image credit: NIST
A team including Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØPREP researchers and scientists from Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØBoulder and NIST have built the first random number generator using quantum entanglement to produce verifiable random numbers.Ìý
Dubbed CURBy, the produces random numbers on a publicly available website. The randomness can be verified, traced and certified through the team’s implementation of the Twine protocol which adds a digital fingerprint to each set of data. The site produces random numbers by two different methods, by a combination of classical random and pseudorandom numbers and by using quantum randomness that comes from a loophole-free Bell test of entangled photons from Krister Shalm’s laboratory at NIST-Boulder.Ìý
CURBy's quantum random numbers are based on measuring the polarization states of pairs of entangled photons from a single source but at two detectors that are more than 100 meters apart. The polarization states of the two photons are measured essentially simultaneously so that no classical communication is possible between the detectors, even at the speed of light. The measured polarization correlations violate Bell's inequality, soÌýare inherently quantum and nonlocal. The 512-bit random numbersÌýextracted from the experiment andÌýreported by CURBy are fully traceable and certifiable making them both verifiable and cheat-proof.Ìý
The Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØBoulder affiliated team includes:Ìý
- Gautam Kavuri, physics graduate student and Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØPREP researcher
- Jasper Palfree, Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØPREP Post-Graduate
- Dileep Reddy, Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØPREP Senior Research Fellow
- Michael Mazurek, Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØPREP Postdoctoral Fellow
- Mohammad Alhejji (PhDPhys'23), former Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØPREP researcher
- Katherine Stange, Professor of Mathematics
- Paul Beale, Professor of Physics and Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØPREP Program Manager
- Emanuel Knill, NIST Physicist and Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØBoulder Physics lecturer
- Krister Shalm, NIST Physicist and Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØBoulder Physics lecturer, former Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØPREP researcherÌý
Their results were recently published in and featured in NIST's recent .Ìý