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Multi-bit optical quantum random number generator based on the distribution of single photon pulse amplitude of a photomultiplier tube

Qiurong Yan, Baosheng Zhao, Hua Qun Zhan, Qinghong Liao

Published Jul 15, 2015• 0 citations
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Abstract

This paper proposes and demonstrates an optical quantum random number generator based on distribution of single photon pulse amplitude of a photomultiplier tube. The light emitted from ultraviolet LED is attenuated into discrete single photon sequence. After these photons are detected by the photomultiplier tube, the single-photon pulses with random distribution are output. Digital values of peaks of these single-photon pulses are used as the entropy sources of random number generation. In order to reduce the bias of the raw extracted random number, the SHA-256 post processing method based on FPGA is proposed and implemented. When our designed quantum random number generator works at a counting rate of 500 kc/s, 7 random bits can be extracted on average per detected photon, and a random number generation rate of 3.5 Mbit/s is obtained. The random bit sequences are tested by random number test programs ENT and STS. The test results show that the generated random bit sequences fully meet the standards of true random numbers. ©, 2015, Board of Optronics Lasers. All right reserved.

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This paper proposes and demonstrates an optical quantum random number generator based on distribution of single photon pulse amplitude of a photomultiplier tube. The light emitted from ultraviolet LED is attenuated into discrete single photon sequence. After these photons are detected by the photomultiplier tube, the single-photon pulses with random distribution are output. Digital values of peaks of these single-photon pulses are used as the entropy sources of random number generation. In order to reduce the bias of the raw extracted random number, the SHA-256 post processing method based on FPGA is proposed and implemented. When our designed quantum random number generator works at a counting rate of 500 kc/s, 7 random bits can be extracted on average per detected photon, and a random number generation rate of 3.5 Mbit/s is obtained. The random bit sequences are tested by random number test programs ENT and STS. The test results show that the generated random bit sequences fully meet the standards of true random numbers. ©, 2015, Board of Optronics Lasers. All right reserved.
This paper proposes and demonstrates an optical quantum random number generator based on distribution of single photon pulse amplitude of a photomultiplier tube.The light emitted from ultraviolet LED is attenuated into discrete single photon sequence.After these photons are detected by the photomultiplier tube,the single-photon pulses with random distribution are output.Digital values of peaks of these single-photon pulses are used as the entropy sources of random number generation.In order to reduce the bias of the raw extracted random number,the SHA-256 post processing method based on FPGA is proposed and implemented.When our designed quantum random number generator works at a counting rate of 500kc/s,7random bits can be extracted on average per detected photon,and a random number generation rate of 3.5Mbit/s is obtained.The random bit sequences are tested by random number test programs ENT and STS.The test results show that the generated random bit sequences fully meet the standards of true random numbers.
An optical quantum random number generator based on parity of the number of photons detected in the equal time intervals was proposed. Light emitted from a continuous wave laser diode is attenuated into discrete single-photon sequence. The single photon is detected by a single-photon avalanche photodiode module. Random bit is extracted by measuring the parity of number of photons detected in equal time interval. The random bit extraction circuit based on field programmable gate array was developed. The influences of the size of time interval and the performance parameters of single photon module on performance of the designed random number generator were analyzed. In order to achieve a random bit generator with small deviation and fast generation rate, a method of setting time interval automatically according to average counting rate was proposed. A random bit generation rate of 2 Mbit/s was obtained when the designed random number generator works on a counting rate of 20 Mcps and the equal time interval is set as 0.5 μs. The random bit sequences were tested by random number test program ENT and STS. The test results show that the generated random bit sequences fully meet the standards of true random numbers, and do not require post-processin ©, 2015, Chinese Optical Society. All right reserved.
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.
In our modern society random number generators are widely circulated. Numerical simulations, the gambling industry, authentication tasks like the generation of pin/tan numbers all the way to cryptographic environments are applications for random number generators. Today algorithmic or physical deterministic approaches are used, which cannot produce true random numbers. The indeterminacy and unpredictability in quantum mechanics however provide the possibility to generate true random numbers. In this work a random number generator is developed using quantum mechanical e ects. The random source is based on the light emission of a light emitting diode. The emitted photons are detected by a photomultiplier tube. The random bit values are extracted by counting the number of photons detected in a certain time interval. Both the photon emission process of the LED, the detection process and the electronical pulse recognition circuit are considered in developing the theoretical model. It turns out that the main contributions to the nal detected photon number distribution come from a coulomb blockade e ect of electrons inside the semiconductor junction of the LED, the optical attenuation of the photons and the dead time of the detection circuitry. Remarkably the e ect of the dead time modi es the photon statistics in such a way that equally distributed random bit sequences can be generated even at low mean photon numbers. In case of a Poissonian statistics this would require an in nitely high photon number. In a compact experimental setup this theoretical model can be veri ed. Random bit rates of up to 50 MBit/s can be generated. A nal analysis of bit sequences with statistical methods do not reveal any regularities in these sequences. In future this random number generator will be integrated into the quantum key distribution setup of the LMUMunich. An increase in the generation rate by scaling the setup would allow to adopt this system in modern cryptographic applications with rates of up to 1 GBit/s.
A small-sized photonic quantum random number generator, easy to be implemented in small electronic devices for secure data encryption and other applications, is highly demanding nowadays. Here, we propose a compact configuration with Silicon nanocrystals large area light emitting device (LED) coupled to a Silicon photomultiplier to generate random numbers. The random number generation methodology is based on the photon arrival time and is robust against the non-idealities of the detector and the source of quantum entropy. The raw data show high quality of randomness and pass all the statistical tests in national institute of standards and technology tests (NIST) suite without a post-processing algorithm. The highest bit rate is 0.5 Mbps with the efficiency of 4 bits per detected photon.