In the above photo, Matt Bermudez ’09 works with physics professor David Branning to collect a sample of 17 million polarization measurements on single photons. Each photon was prepared in a quantum superposition state of Horizontal (H) and Vertical (V) polarization, and then measured, with a polarizer and detectors, to be either H- or V-polarized. The sequence of H-V outcomes, which is predicted to be random by quantum mechanics, were then subjected to fifteen tests developed at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for computer-based random-number generators. Branning is now working on a follow-up to this project with other students.  The results will be published in the September issue of the Journal of the Optical Society of America.