Researchers build the fastest laser-based random number generator

Engadget ^ | 03.01.21

[BenLurkin]

It can generate 250 terabytes of random bits per second. In fact, it was so fast that the team behind it struggled to record its output using a high-speed camera. According to the researchers, their system trumps physical random number generators both in speed and through its ability to create many bitstreams simultaneously. The results are published in the journal Science.

The new invention utilizes a tiny laser, just one millimeter long, which bounces light between mirrors positioned at either end of an hourglass-shaped cavity before exiting the device, reports Science News. Unlike previous laser-based systems, the new process can amplify many optical modes simultaneously.

These interfere with each other to generate rapid intensity fluctuations that the team recorded with a camera, which measured light intensity at 254 spots across the beam about every trillionth of a second. But the speed at which the laser was pumping out data meant the camera could only track it for a couple of nanoseconds before its memory filled up, after which the data was uploaded to a computer.

[al baby]

Will it help us here to be IBTZ faster?

[MarineBrat]

Good... because the way we did it in the old days was hard.

[norwaypinesavage]

I’ve been interested in random number generation since I did my first Monte Carlo computer simulation more than half a century ago. I became aware that the problem is that computers flawlessly do the same things over and over again. The random number generators available then did NOT generate random numbers, they generated a random number sequence over and over again. It was possible to increase the length of the sequence, but it was not possible to prevent its repetition. This becomes a problem in such things as encryption, passwords, and also Monte Carlo simulations. It’s great to see new solutions for this.

[zeugma]

The random number generators available then did NOT generate random numbers, they generated a random number sequence over and over again. It was possible to increase the length of the sequence, but it was not possible to prevent its repetition.

True. It is incredibly hard to get truly random numbers from a computer. This does have some implications for cryptography, though most modern cyphers get around this by using more bits than they otherwise would.

Here's an interesting way to get around generating random data for a crypto seed: DiceKeys. Note: the link is actually demoware. The actual dice keys are physical dice. It's an interesting way to generate a significant amount of entropy. There are 25 letters on the dice (A-Z minus Q). Each side is numbered 1-6. When shaken into the container, there are also 4 possible orientations for the individual dice. All told, that can produce 196 bits of entropy. Put another way, there are 124,127,134,662,179,891,202,329,100,571,859,806,502,566,406,865,813,504,000,000 different ways to orient the keys in the box.

More info at DiceKeys.com. I bought a couple to play with.

[Chode]

for "my" purposes i have used clocktime or pingtimes for random numbers

[zeugma]

On a Linux box:
To display nanoseconds since 1/1/1970 00:00 UTC
$ date +%s%N
1614626686572918473

Pipe that through shasum...
$ date +%s%N | sha256sum
192f7fb540c80cc5aaadb35684619c4b2bbb451e872b8912bef0ca901eaae74d -

Deterministic, yet 'random'... Good enough for a seed anyway

Here's the same thing executed 5 times as fast as my computer can do it...

$ for x in {1..5}; do date +%s%N | sha256sum;done
15fb0d6dee447381c65560639d61d48124a5e973240664a9a25226a3a81ca788 -
3910b4460702eef4b34425a206ae1d16a0383e763643d4fddd0f4f6bffbda686 -
795958ab9645b5b3b4acac36f0de026396741e37e5b72e6e07743ec3b6446280 -
e1ad6e2025e32ef5a8b87de5fcd31da71d5b57ec9cdae4929582538da5f151e4 -
a8251c337b8503ea5475f0e30e22bc32d53908199be33242464d0c3fa354836f -

[Fungi]

And the purpose for all this?

[Chode]

bingo... yes, thank you very much

use it as number or seed for more intense uses

but like i said, it’s good enough for MY needs

[zeugma]

but like i said, it’s good enough for MY needs

Totally understood. Sometimes nerds tend to over engineer things just because we can. The snippet I posted earlier was a way to come up with a pretty random string. The problem is, it is not reproducable at all. It will always give you a unique answer. I have a script around here that will basically take any string, and run it through a hashing program to generate a really strong key. I use something like that to periodically update my wifi password. If you do it once a month you could choose an input string like "March 2021", and it would generate you a very strong wifi password. You'd also be able to recreate it at any time, just by passing the month/year through the script.

I don't have visitors often, but I've figured out a way to incorporate all that nonsense into a script that will generate a QR code, so I can just say 'scan this to get on wifi'.

I really can't help being a nerd. It's kindof an illness. I think it's also genetic

[Chode]

no no no, i meant as in good enough for me not good enough for military work...

where in cases like this “close enough for government work” does not apply.

you posted exactly what i was talking about, simple but elegant

unfortunately that is what we have come to

i copied the key from your homepage

thx again