From: John K Clark (jonkc@att.net)
Date: Wed Sep 18 2002 - 22:12:51 MDT
Personally I think random numbers are too important to be left to chance,
but I just got this today and you may find it interesting.
===============
PHYSICS NEWS UPDATE
The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Physics News
Number 605 September 18, 2002 by Phillip F. Schewe, Ben Stein, and James
Riordon
FAST, CHEAP RANDOM NUMBERS. The keys needed to encrypt credit card
transactions and other crucial information floating in cyberspace often rely
on an infusion of random numbers. Generating true random numbers is
actually harder than it seems since the generation process generally follows
some deterministic algorithm, permitting the possible reappearance of
unwanted predictability. James Gleeson, a physicist at Kent State
University (330-672-9592, gleeson@physics.kent.edu) has come up with a
cheap, fast solution. He shoots laser light into a sample of liquid
crystals. But because the sample is subject to a turbulent flow, causing
haphazard fluctuations in the orientation of the liquid crystals, the
digitized transmitted light coming from the sample represents a stream of
random numbers. Gleeson believes that because his device depends on
standard liquid-crystal-display technology, his compact device can be used
for many processes requiring random-number generation. (Applied Physics
Letters, 9 September 2002.)
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