Interesting, but I don't think this generates true random numbers.
The traditional quantum optics setup does, however. The basic design is also a lot simpler: you've got your source of photons, your half-silvered mirror, a bunch of detectors and you're ready to go.
Here are some devices from ID Quantique that use quantum optics:
> I don't think this generates true random numbers.
I'm interested in what makes you think that. If you could predict the precise course of electrons through a reverse biased pn junction, I would have thought that would be a breakthrough in quantum mechanics worthy of the Nobel Prize in physics.
I'm not in complete understanding of what differentiates a true random number from a non-true one in this instance.
I fully understand why algorithmic pseudo-random numbers can be said to be not 'true' random numbers -- if you know the algorithm that produces the numbers, and you know enough of the numbers output by any particular 'round' of random-number-generation production, you can in principle figure out how the algorithm was seeded -- or narrow it down to a few possible seeds -- and predict with greater accuracy its future outputs. (I'd like to know if I've got that wrong).
But in this case, that doesn't seem to be a concern. What could make someone think it's an 'un-true' RNG? What, to such a person, would a 'true' RNG look like? Is thermal noise an 'un-true' RNG? Why?
Some hardware RNGs had poor deskewing or correlated bits or no failure detection or were outputing other non-random noise or were using weird sampling rates.
I post a link elsewhere in the thread with some description. RFC4046 has some more information.
So, while the hole-electron moving[1] through the pn junction is quantum there's a bunch of other stuff that can be sent to the output stream and that poor software implementations include as random.
[1] apologies to physicists for inaccurate terminology. I never really know how to describe what hPpens with holes and electrons in semi conductors.
It's just that the optical system is simpler, and still predicts true randomness. So if I were forced to e.g. build a business based on true random numbers, I'd probably go for the simpler system.
The traditional quantum optics setup does, however. The basic design is also a lot simpler: you've got your source of photons, your half-silvered mirror, a bunch of detectors and you're ready to go.
Here are some devices from ID Quantique that use quantum optics:
http://www.idquantique.com/component/content/article.html?id...