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A notable characteristic of the beam splitter is that it divides the photon wave into exactly two equal amplitudes, describing a reflected component and a transmitted component. However, only one of the detectors displays a signal that can be observed, because the energy of a photon can only be measured at one location. When measuring a photon wave, either only the “white” detector or only the “black” detector displays a signal.
In the quantum optics laboratory, the fundamental randomness in the transmission and reflection of individual photons can thus be proven experimentally using that method. If this measurement is repeated several times consecutively, a black-and-white random pattern emerges. Precisely this experimental set-up is used to generate random numbers that are entirely independent from one another. Randomness cannot be calculated. Consequently, no computer can generate genuine random numbers. This experiment is crucial as it is an inexhaustible source of random numbers.
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