By William Weir
February 26, 2021
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A chip detects laser fluctuations to generate random numbers. (credit: Kyungduk Kim)
Random numbers are increasingly important to our digitally connected world, with applications that include e-commerce, cryptography, and cloud computing. Producing a large amount of truly random numbers quickly, though, is a challenge.
To speed things up, a team of researchers has developed a compact laser that can produce these random numbers 100 times quicker than the fastest current systems. The results are published February 26 in the journal Science.
To foil would-be hackers, computer systems need to generate sequences of random numbers. Some systems use what’s known as pseudo-random numbers, which are actually complex patterns that begin with a particular number, or “seed.” They work fine for some applications, but if attackers know the seed or any
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