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arXiv:1903.01071 · Physical Review Applied

Real-Time Source-Independent Quantum Random-Number Generator with Squeezed States

Thibault Michel, Jing Yan Haw, Davide G. Marangon, Oliver Thearle, Giuseppe Vallone, Paolo Villoresi, Ping Koy Lam, Syed M. Assad

Published Sep 11, 2019• 59 citations
arXivHTMLPDF

Abstract

Sequences of random numbers are crucial resources for computer simulation and cryptocommunication. Appropriate measurements of the quadratures of a laser's field have been shown to enable efficient generation of high-security, unbiased, truly random numbers. The authors extend this technique to realize a real-time quantum random-number generator, where the source of entropy does not need to be trusted and can be controlled by a malicious third party. By measuring a pair of conjugate quadratures, secure random numbers useful for cryptocommunication can be extracted. The technique is tested on different entropy sources, including thermal and squeezed states of light.

DOI
10.1103/physrevapplied.12.034017

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Sequences of random numbers are crucial resources for computer simulation and cryptocommunication. Appropriate measurements of the quadratures of a laser's field have been shown to enable efficient generation of high-security, unbiased, truly random numbers. The authors extend this technique to realize a real-time quantum random-number generator, where the source of entropy does not need to be trusted and can be controlled by a malicious third party. By measuring a pair of conjugate quadratures, secure random numbers useful for cryptocommunication can be extracted. The technique is tested on different entropy sources, including thermal and squeezed states of light.
Quantum random numbers have an incomparable advantage over pseudo-random numbers since randomness originates from intrinsic property of quantum mechanics. The generation rate and the security of quantum random numbers are two significant indicators of a quantum random number generator (QRNG) for practical applications. Here we propose a mutually testing source-device-independent QRNG by simultaneously measuring a pair of conjugate quadratures from two separate parts of an untrusted continuous-variable quantum state. The amounts of randomness of the quadratures can be mutually estimated by each other via entropic uncertainty principle. Instead of randomly toggling between the conjugate quadratures of one state for collecting different types of data, two quadratures can generate check data and raw bits simultaneously and continuously in this mutually testing manner, which enhances the equivalent generation rate of private random bits to around 6 Gbit/s with a 7.5 mW laser beam. Moreover, the overall security is also improved by adjusting the conditional min-entropy in real time according to the continually monitored fluctuations of the local oscillator and the randomly measured electronic noise of homodyne detectors.
Abstract As a fundamental phenomenon in nature, randomness has a wide range of applications in the fields of science and engineering. Among different types of random number generators (RNG), quantum random number generator (QRNG) is a kind of promising RNG as it can provide provable true random numbers based on the inherent randomness of fundamental quantum processes. Nevertheless, the randomness from a QRNG can be diminished (or even destroyed) if the devices (especially the entropy source devices) are not perfect or ill-characterized. To eliminate the practical security loopholes from the source, source-independent QRNGs, which allow the source to have arbitrary and unknown dimensions, have been introduced and become one of the most important semi-device-independent (DI) QRNGs. Herein a method that enables ultra-fast unpredictable quantum random number generation from quadrature fluctuations of quantum optical field without any assumptions on the input states is proposed. Particularly, to estimate a lower bound on the extractable randomness that is independent from side information held by an eavesdropper, a new security analysis framework is established based on the extremality of Gaussian states, which can be easily extended to design and analyze new semi-DI continuous variable QRNG protocols. Moreover, the practical imperfections of the QRNG including the effects of excess noise, finite sampling range, finite resolution and asymmetric conjugate quadratures are taken into account and quantitatively analyzed. Finally, the proposed method is experimentally demonstrated to obtain high secure random number generation rates of 15.07 Gbits s −1 in off-line configuration and can potentially achieve 6 Gbits s −1 by real-time post-processing.
Abstract Random numbers are a basic ingredient of simulation algorithms and cryptography, and play a significant part in computer simulation and information processing. One prominent feature of a squeezed light is its lower fluctuation and more randomness in a pair of orthogonal oriented quadratures, thus it prompts a significant application in not only quantum information and quantum precision measurement but also an excellent entropy source for true random number generation. Here we report a generation of a high-efficiency semi-device-independent quantum random number based on a broadband squeezed light, where a reliable randomness source is unnecessary and a noisy local oscillator is allowed for homodyne detection. The equivalent generation of private random bits is at a rate of 580.7 Mbps. In addition, the use of squeezed light at 1.3 μm enables the transmission of entropy sources and local oscillators at the metropolitan scale, thus expanding the potential applications of quantum random number generators based on non-classical state of light.
Abstract The entropy or randomness source is an essential ingredient in random number generation. Quantum random number generators generally require well modeled and calibrated light sources, such as a laser, to generate randomness. With uncharacterized light sources, such as sunlight or an uncharacterized laser, genuine randomness is practically hard to be quantified or extracted owing to its unknown or complicated structure. By exploiting a recently proposed source-independent randomness generation protocol, we theoretically modify it by considering practical issues and experimentally realize the modified scheme with an uncharacterized laser and a sunlight source. The extracted randomness is guaranteed to be secure independent of its source and the randomness generation speed reaches 1 Mbps, three orders of magnitude higher than the original realization. Our result signifies the power of quantum technology in randomness generation and paves the way to high-speed semi-self-testing quantum random number generators with practical light sources.
Quantum random number generators (QRNGs) harness the intrinsic randomness in measurement processes: the measurement outputs are truly random given the input state is a superposition of the eigenstates of the measurement operators. We show in the case of trusted devices, genuine randomness could be generated even when the input to the detector is a mixed state. We propose a random number generation scheme based on measuring the quadrature fluctuations of a single mode thermal state with an optical homodyne detector. By interfering a broadband incoherent source with a single mode local oscillator at a beam splitter and performing differential photodetection, we can selectively detect the quadrature fluctuations of a single mode of the incoherent source, thanks to the filtering function introduced by the local oscillator. Experimentally, a quadrature variance about three orders of magnitude larger than the vacuum noise is observed from an amplified spontaneous emission source, suggesting this scheme can tolerate much high technical noises in comparison with QRNGs based on measuring the vacuum noise. The high quality of this entropy source is evidenced by the small correlation coefficients of the acquired data.