title: Multi-bit quantum random number generation by measuring positions of arrival photons.
abstract: We report upon the realization of a novel multi-bit optical quantum random number generator by continuously measuring the arrival positions of photon emitted from a LED using MCP-based WSA photon counting imaging detector. A spatial encoding method is proposed to extract multi-bits random number from the position coordinates of each detected photon. The randomness of bits sequence relies on the intrinsic randomness of the quantum physical processes of photonic emission and subsequent photoelectric conversion. A prototype has been built and the random bit generation rate could reach 8 Mbit/s, with random bit generation efficiency of 16 bits per detected photon. FPGA implementation of Huffman coding is proposed to reduce the bias of raw extracted random bits. The random numbers passed all tests for physical random number generator.
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronics Information Engineering, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China.
authors.forename: Qiurong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yan
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Transient Optics and Photonics, Xi'an Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710119, China.
authors.forename: Baosheng
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronics Information Engineering, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China.
authors.forename: Qinghong
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: Department of Electronics Information Engineering, Nanchang University, Nanchang 330031, China.
authors.forename: Nanrun
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Zhou