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QUANTUM COMMUNICATION

Predictably random

Nature Physics volume 17, pages 431–432 (2021)Cite this article

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Two experiments using entangled photons have successfully generated more randomness than consumed — at a level of security that is all but certain. They did so by exploiting non-locality, one of the most counterintuitive aspects of quantum mechanics.

Life can feel random in many ways, and we often try to make order out of randomness. Sometimes, however, we seek randomness itself — situations where it is useful to have access to random numbers. A relevant example in physics is using Monte Carlo methods to solve optimization problems or carry out numerical integration by randomly sampling. Or take cryptography — the importance of which in the modern world is hard to understate: it has randomness at its very core, where information is secured by the use of a random key. Now, writing in Nature Physics, two groups, Lynden Shalm and colleagues1 and Wen-Zhao Liu and colleagues2, have used quantum non-locality to produce a net gain of extremely secure randomness.

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Fig. 1: Quantum and device-independent random number generators.

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References

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  1. University of Bristol, Bristol, UK

    Paul Skrzypczyk

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  1. Paul Skrzypczyk
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Correspondence to Paul Skrzypczyk.

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The author declares no competing interests.

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Skrzypczyk, P. Predictably random. Nat. Phys. 17, 431–432 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-021-01177-4

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