Bounds on this Strategy for Separating Words
The second section of Robson's &quot;Separating strings with small automata&quot; proves $F(n) = O((n \log n)^{1/2})$. The string sequence $(10^n)^n$ gives a lower bound of $\Omega(n^{1/2})$. If the automaton has $&lt;n$ states then both of the sequences $\delta_0^{\circ m} (\delta_{(10^n)^{n-1}1}(q_0))$ and $\delta_{10^n}^{\circ m}(q_0)$ will reach a cycle before $m=n$.