Compact quantum random number generator based on superluminescent light-emitting diodes.

Shihai Wei,Bingjie Xu,Jie Yang,Fan Fan,Dashuang Li,Wei Huang

doi:10.1063/1.5005506

Shihai Wei, Bingjie Xu + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1063/1.5005506

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Abstract

By measuring the amplified spontaneous emission (ASE) noise of the superluminescent light emitting diodes, we propose and realize a quantum random number generator (QRNG) featured with practicability. In the QRNG, after the detection and amplification of the ASE noise, the data acquisition and randomness extraction which is integrated in a field programmable gate array (FPGA) are both implemented in real-time, and the final random bit sequences are delivered to a host computer with a real-time generation rate of 1.2 Gbps. Further, to achieve compactness, all the components of the QRNG are integrated on three independent printed circuit boards with a compact design, and the QRNG is packed in a small enclosure sized 140 mm × 120 mm × 25 mm. The final random bit sequences can pass all the NIST-STS and DIEHARD tests.

Highlights

Random numbers play an extremely important role in daily life and have widespread applications in the fields of science and engineering,1 such as numerical simulations, lottery games, and cryptography
Based on the computational algorithms, statistically random bits can be obtained from the classical pseudo-random number generators (PRNGs), which have been widely applied in modern digital electronic information systems
A significant type of the true random number generators (TRNGs) is the quantum random number generator (QRNG), which extracts the randomness from the fundamental quantum processes and provides true random numbers based on the measurement of the unpredictable quantum noise

Summary

INTRODUCTION

Random numbers play an extremely important role in daily life and have widespread applications in the fields of science and engineering, such as numerical simulations, lottery games, and cryptography. Based on the computational algorithms, statistically random bits can be obtained from the classical pseudo-random number generators (PRNGs), which have been widely applied in modern digital electronic information systems. Different from the PRNGs, the true random number generators (TRNGs) extract randomness from the unpredictable physical processes.. A significant type of the TRNGs is the quantum random number generator (QRNG), which extracts the randomness from the fundamental quantum processes and provides true random numbers based on the measurement of the unpredictable quantum noise.. Based on all mentioned above, the generation rate, the real-time performance, and the compactness are three key features that need to be considered primarily when designing and realizing a practical QRNG. With the balance for the three features taken into consideration, we design and realize a practical QRNG based on measuring the ASE noise of the superluminescent light emitting diodes (SLEDs).

SCHEME AND PRINCIPLE

CONCLUSION