Ultrafast quantum random number generation based on quantum phase fluctuations.
A quantum random number generator (QRNG) can generate true randomness by exploiting the fundamental indeterminism of quantum mechanics. Most approaches to QRNG employ single-photon detection technologies and are limited in speed. Here, we experimentally demonstrate an ultrafast QRNG at a rate over 6 Gbits/s based on the quantum phase fluctuations of a laser operating near threshold. Moreover, we consider a potential adversary who has partial knowledge on the raw data and discuss how one can rigorously remove such partial knowledge with postprocessing. We quantify the quantum randomness through min-entropy by modeling our system and employ two randomness extractors--Trevisan's extractor and Toeplitz-hashing--to distill the randomness, which is information-theoretically provable. The simplicity and high-speed of our experimental setup show the feasibility of a robust, low-cost, high-speed QRNG.
Center for Quantum Information and Quantum Control, Department of Physics and Department of Electrical & Computer Engineering, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON M5S 3G4, Canada. feihu.xu@utoronto.ca
Feihu
F
Xu
Bing
B
Qi
Xiongfeng
X
Ma
He
H
Xu
Haoxuan
H
Zheng
Hoi-Kwong
HK
Lo
D007834:Lasers; D008433:Mathematics; D011789:Quantum Theory; D011897:Random Allocation