A Quantum Magic 8-Ball Web App Uses a Homemade Random Number Generator
The project repurposes protein-analysis hardware into a functional quantum random number generator and presents it as a playful fortune-telling tool, demonstrating accessible quantum experimentation.
Reporting from 1 sources: GIGAZINE.
Researcher and engineer David Noel Ng built a device that generates random numbers from photon detection and created a web app called A Quantum Magic 8-Ball. The app randomly selects one of 20 pre-written answers using the quantum random numbers. The device uses an ultraviolet LED, a beam splitter, and photomultiplier tubes to read photon paths as coin tosses.
David Noel Ng, a researcher and engineer, built a quantum random number generator from repurposed laboratory hardware and used it to power a web-based fortune-telling app called A Quantum Magic 8-Ball. The device generates random bits by detecting which of two photomultiplier tubes registers a photon after the light passes through a 50:50 beam splitter. The web app maps those random numbers to one of 20 fixed answers, discarding any result outside the 0-19 range to keep probabilities even. Ng named the generator Universe Splitter, a reference to the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics. The photomultiplier tubes came from a Hamamatsu Photonics device originally used for protein structure analysis; Ng replaced the dichroic mirror with a half-mirror suited to ultraviolet light. The app does not send user input to the generator-clicking ASK only triggers a fresh random number pull.
Synthesized by Yomimono from the 1 cited source below, including Japanese-language reporting where cited, then editorially reviewed before publishing.