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Optical Engineering

Efficiency improvement of a time-of-arrival quantum random number generator

Ágoston Schranz, Eszter Udvary, Balázs Matolcsy

Published Mar 30, 2021• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The bit generation algorithm of a quantum random number generator based on photon arrival time differences is improved in terms of the bit generation efficiency and bit generation rate. The method is analyzed mathematically, proving that, in theory, the improved generator still produces random numbers of high quality without the need of resorting to postprocessing algorithms. The effects of nonidealities are quantitatively analyzed to provide bounds for the maximum tolerable deviations from uniformity. Experimental investigations are conducted on a prototype, showing that the method is capable of increasing the rate of bit generation by more than 47% on the same physical architecture.

DOI
10.1117/1.oe.60.3.034112

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The bit generation algorithm of a quantum random number generator based on photon arrival time differences is improved in terms of the bit generation efficiency and bit generation rate. The method is analyzed mathematically, proving that, in theory, the improved generator still produces random numbers of high quality without the need of resorting to postprocessing algorithms. The effects of nonidealities are quantitatively analyzed to provide bounds for the maximum tolerable deviations from uniformity. Experimental investigations are conducted on a prototype, showing that the method is capable of increasing the rate of bit generation by more than 47% on the same physical architecture.
Quantum random number generators can deliver entropy based on inherently non-deterministic physical phenomena, which is essential for applications where quality randomness is needed (e.g. in cryptography). Our generator based on photon time-of-arrival exploits the randomness of light emission in semiconductors. To measure the time between detections we use a continuous (non-restartable) clock for time tagging, which permits simpler hardware but produces slightly different output from the optimal exponential distribution. To handle this and produce quality output, we use Toeplitz hashing based bit generation after modeling and calculating a lower bound of extractable min-entropy for the general case of this generation scheme with a continuous clock. We produced uniformly distributed output bits with our setup, while also reaching a generation efficiency of 9.75 output bits per 16-bit input record, which is an improvement to our previously used method. Our generator has also been statistically tested using four of the popular statistical test suites.
Abstract A bit generation algorithm of a photon arrival times based quantum random number generator is proposed and investigated in terms of the quality of generated bits, bit generation efficiency and bit generation rate. The method's performance is analyzed mathematically, considering the properties of the physical equipment, such as discretized time measurement, inaccurate knowledge about the photon arrival rate and dead time. The proposed bit generation algorithm is also tested in a physical experiment.
A quantum random number generation method based on measuring the time differences between photon detections is analyzed mathematically in terms of bit generation efficiency and bit generation rate. It was found that these two values cannot be maximized simultaneously by altering the incident photon rate of a light source with Poisson statistics, but the generation rate can be increased at the expense of efficiency. Analytical results are presented for both an idealized and a practical case. The detector’s dead time has been taken into consideration in the latter case, implying that, for certain combinations of the dead time and the measurement clock period, the generation rate becomes a two-peaked function of the incident photon rate. The theoretical results are confirmed by simulations, showing excellent agreement between the two.
We demonstrate a novel high speed and multi-bit optical quantum random number generator by continuously measuring arrival time of photons with a common starting point. To obtain the unbiased and post-processing free random bits, the measured photon arrival time is converted into the sum of integral multiple of a fixed period and a phase time. Theoretical and experimental results show that the phase time is an independent and uniform random variable. A random bit extraction method by encoding the phase time is proposed. An experimental setup has been built and the unbiased random bit generation rate could reach 128 Mb/s, with random bit generation efficiency of 8 bits per detected photon. The random numbers passed all tests in the statistical test suite.
Random numbers play an important role in many areas, for example, encryption, cryptography, static analysis, simulations.It is also a fundamental resource in science and engineering.There are algorithmically generated numbers that are similar to random distributions, but are not actually random, called pseudo random number generators.In many cases the tasks to be solved are based on the unpredictability of random numbers, which cannot be guaranteed in the case of pseudo random number generators, true randomness is required.In such situations, we use real random number generators whose source of randomness is unpredictable random events.Quantum Random Number Generators (QRNGs) generate real random numbers based on the inherent randomness of quantum measurements.Our goal is to generate fast random numbers at a lower cost.At the same time, a high level of randomness is essential.Through quantum mechanics, we can obtain true numbers using the unpredictable behavior of a photon, which is the basis of many modern cryptographic protocols.It is essential to trust cryptographic random number generators to generate only true random numbers.This is why certification methods are needed which will check both the operation of the device and the quality of the random bits generated.We present the improved novel quantum random number generator, which is based the on time of arrival QRNG.It uses the simple version of the detectors with few requirements.The novel QRNG produces more than one random bit per each photon detection.It is rather efficient and has a high level of randomness.Self-testing as well as device independent quantum random number generation methods are analyzed.The advantages and disadvantages of both methods are identified.The model of a novel semi self-testing certification method for quantum random number generators (QRNG) is offered in the paper.This method combines different types of certification approaches and is rather secure and efficient.Finally, the novel certification method is integrated into the model of the new quantum random number generator.The paper analyzes its security and efficiency.
We present a high-quality bias-free quantum random number generator (QRNG) using photon arrival time selectively, in accordance with the number of photon detection events within a sampling time interval in attenuated light. It is well shown in both theoretical analysis and experimental verification that this random number production method eliminates both bias and correlation perfectly without more postprocessing and that the random number can clearly pass the standard randomness tests. We fulfill theoretical analysis and experimental verification of the method whose rate can reach up to 45 Mb/s.