Certifiably random: Swiss researchers claim perfect random number source

Many randomness sources show bias, including coins, dice, and even quantum-based random number generators that can still contain systematic errors. Software pseudo-random number generators can also be biased, causing security problems in IoT devices and applications such as WhatsApp. A new approach uses two supercomputing chips cooled near absolute zero, each representing one qubit, connected by a 30-meter microwave guide kept similarly cold. Microwave photons traveling between the chips create quantum entanglement. The resulting measurement outcomes are converted using a special algorithm to generate randomness. The output sequence of zeros and ones can be certified as perfectly random and designed to remain perfectly random indefinitely.

"Even modern random number generators, which are based on quantum mechanical effects like the reflection of photons from beam splitters, are not entirely immune to such a systematic error or 'bias'," said Andreas Wallraff, one of the leaders of the research team at ETH Zurich."

"Similar biases can be found in purely software-based pseudo-random number generators. This has led to security problems in IoT devices and WhatsApp, among other applications."

"To get around that, the researchers set up of two supercomputing chips, each representing one qubit, cooled to near absolute zero. The chips are connected by a 30-meter-long microwave guide, similarly cooled, and the microwave photons flying between them create a situation of quantum entanglement."

"The results produced by this process are then transformed via a special algorithm to generate perfect randomness. "The resulting sequence of zeros and ones is now really perfectly random, and we can even certify that," said Renato Renner, the other team leader. "The technical improvements allowed us to create random numbers that will remain perfectly random for all eternity.""

Read at Computerworld