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arXiv:2606.21369

Maximal global device-independent randomness from projective measurements in every dimension

Máté Farkas, Piotr Mironowicz, Remigiusz Augusiak

quant-phSubmitted Jun 19, 2026• Announced Jun 22, 2026• 0 citations• Revised Jun 24, 2026 (v2)
v1 · Jun 19, 2026v2 · Jun 24, 2026
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Abstract

Device-independent random number generation (DIQRNG) is the most secure form of generating private randomness using quantum physical processes. Its strength lies in producing numbers that are impossible to predict by any eavesdropper restricted by the laws of quantum theory. Moreover, security is proven solely from observed measurement statistics, without the need to characterise or trust the devices used in random number generation. Implementing DIQRNG is, however, costly, as it requires high-quality entangled systems. It is therefore important to make the best use of available resources. In this work, we show that using projective measurements -- which are most readily implementable experimentally -- one can certify $2\log(d)$ bits of device-independent randomness from a bipartite system of local dimension $d$ for every $d \ge 2$, thus reaching the theoretically maximum possible rate of DIQRNG. We provide explicit protocols reaching $2\log(d)$ bits based on mutually unbiased bases. Furthermore, we compute numerical bounds on the rate for the case of imperfect implementations, showing that our protocols are robust to experimental noise.

Comments
Comments welcome! See also the related work by I. Perito et al. on the same day on arXiv.org (2606.21362)

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Device-independent random number generation (DIQRNG) is the most secure form of generating private randomness using quantum physical processes. Its strength lies in producing numbers that are impossible to predict by any eavesdropper restricted by the laws of quantum theory. Moreover, security is proven solely from observed measurement statistics, without the need to characterise or trust the devices used in random number generation. Implementing DIQRNG is, however, costly, as it requires high-quality entangled systems. It is therefore important to make the best use of available resources. In this work, we show that using projective measurements -- which are most readily implementable experimentally -- one can certify 2log⁡(d)2\log(d)2log(d) bits of device-independent randomness from a bipartite system of local dimension ddd for every d≥2d \ge 2d≥2, thus reaching the theoretically maximum possible rate of DIQRNG. We provide explicit protocols reaching 2log⁡(d)2\log(d)2log(d) bits based on mutually unbiased bases. Furthermore, we compute numerical bounds on the rate for the case of imperfect implementations, showing that our protocols are robust to experimental noise.
Device-independent quantum random number generation (DIQRNG) is the gold standard for generating truly random numbers, as it can produce certifiably random numbers from untrusted devices. However, the stringent device requirements of traditional DIQRNG protocols have limited their practical applications. Here, we introduce Device-Independent Private Quantum Randomness Beacon (DIPQRB), a novel approach to generate random numbers from untrusted devices based on routed Bell tests. This method significantly relaxes the device requirements, enabling a more practical way of generating randomness from untrusted devices. By distributing the device requirements across a network of servers and clients, our proposal allows the server to operate high-performance devices while the clients can be equipped with more cost-effective devices. Moreover, the outputs of the client's device are also private, even against the server, which is essential in cryptographic applications. Therefore, DIPQRB provides a cost-effective method to generate secure and private random numbers from untrusted devices.
The generation of certifiable randomness is one of the most promising applications of quantum technologies. Furthermore, the intrinsic non-locality of quantum correlations allow us to certify randomness in a device-independent way, ie, we do not need to make assumptions about the devices used. Due to the work of Curchod et al. a single entangled two-qubit pure state can be used to produce arbitrary amounts of certified randomness. However, the obtaining of this randomness is experimentally challenging as it requires a large number of measurements, both projective and general. Motivated by these difficulties in the device-independent setting, we instead consider the scenario of one-sided device independence where certain devices are trusted, and others are not; a scenario motivated by asymmetric experimental set-ups such as ion-photon networks. We show how certain aspects of previous works can be adapted to this scenario and provide theoretical bounds on the amount of randomness that can be certified. Furthermore, we give a protocol for unbounded randomness certification in this scenario, and provide numerical results demonstrating the protocol in the ideal case. Finally, we numerically test the possibility of implementing this scheme on near-term quantum technologies, by considering the performance of the protocol on several physical platforms.
The generation of certifiable randomness is one of the most promising applications of quantum technologies. Furthermore, the intrinsic non-locality of quantum correlations allow us to certify randomness in a device-independent way, i.e., we do not need to make assumptions about the devices used. Due to the work of Curchod et al. a single entangled two-qubit pure state can be used to produce arbitrary amounts of certified randomness. However, the obtaining of this randomness is experimentally challenging as it requires a large number of measurements, both projective and general. Motivated by these difficulties in the device-independent setting, we instead consider the scenario of one-sided device independence where certain devices are trusted, and others are not; a scenario motivated by asymmetric experimental set-ups such as ion-photon networks. We show how certain aspects of previous works can be adapted to this scenario and provide theoretical bounds on the amount of randomness that can be certified. Furthermore, we give a protocol for unbounded randomness certification in this scenario, and provide numerical results demonstrating the protocol in the ideal case. Finally, we numerically test the possibility of implementing this scheme on near-term quantum technologies, by considering the performance of the protocol on several physical platforms.
Abstract Randomness is a central feature of quantum mechanics and an invaluable resource for both classical and quantum technologies. Commonly, in Device-Independent and Semi-Device-Independent scenarios, randomness is certified using projective measurements, and its amount is bounded by the quantum system’s dimension. Here, we propose a Source-Device-Independent protocol, based on Positive Operator Valued Measurement (POVM), which can arbitrarily increase the number of certified bits for any fixed dimension. Additionally, the proposed protocol doesn’t require an initial seed and active basis switching, simplifying its experimental implementation and increasing the generation rates. A tight lower-bound on the quantum conditional min-entropy is derived using only the POVM structure and the experimental expectation values, taking into account the quantum side-information. For symmetric POVM on the Bloch sphere, we derive closed-form analytical bounds. Finally, we experimentally demonstrate our method with a compact and simple photonic setup that employs polarization-encoded qubits and POVM up to 6 outcomes.
The unpredictability of quantum physics gives rise to intrinsic randomness. In an adversarial scenario, any additional degrees of freedom must be attributed to an eavesdropper with correlations to the measurement set-up. The true randomness is then quantified by the probability that she correctly guesses the measurement outcomes, optimised over all possible strategies. Extremal measurements are appealing here, since they do not allow information to leak to such an eavesdropper. Beyond projective measurements, however, a simple question remains open: how much intrinsic randomness can be generated by a given extremal measurement? In a step towards solving it, we characterise the randomness generated by any unbiased extremal rank-one measurement acting on any state, solving the problem explicitly in dimension two. Four-outcome qubit measurements of this type are tomographic, so these results hold for fully source-device-dependent randomness too. The tetrahedral symmetric informationally complete (SIC) measurement, we find, has the least intrinsic randomness within this class. We also present the skewed SIC family of measurements, and use them to partially solve an open problem: we prove that 2log⁡d2 \log d2logd bits of randomness, the maximal amount, can be generated device-dependently (or source-device-independently) in any dimension in which there exists a SIC measurement.
In quantum cryptography, device-independent (DI) protocols can be certified secure without requiring assumptions about the inner workings of the devices used to perform the protocol. In order to display nonlocality, which is an essential feature in DI protocols, the device must consist of at least two separate components sharing entanglement. This raises a fundamental question: how much entanglement is needed to run such DI protocols? We present a two-device protocol for DI random number generation (DIRNG) which produces approximately n bits of randomness starting from n pairs of arbitrarily weakly entangled qubits. We also consider a variant of the protocol where m singlet states are diluted into n partially entangled states before performing the first protocol, and show that the number m of singlet states need only scale sublinearly with the number n of random bits produced. Operationally, this leads to a DIRNG protocol between distant laboratories that requires only a sublinear amount of quantum communication to prepare the devices.