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Photonics Research

Harnessing measurement-induced quantum uncertainty for ultrafast on-chip source-device-independent randomness certification

Lang Li, Beibei Zhang, Hanwen Yin, Xiaojuan Liao, Yankai Xu, Xu Liu, Yuchao Liu, Yuehan Xu, Peng Huang, Tao Wang, Guihua Zeng

Published May 27, 2026• 0 citations
Publisher

Abstract

The rapid rise of quantum computing and quantum internet highlights the irreplaceable importance of high-speed, scalable quantum randomness certification (QRC). However, existing QRC implementations are constrained by quantum measurement limits and integration bottlenecks, leaving both high-speed operation and monolithic implementation unrealized. Here, we demonstrate a monolithically integrated photonic–electronic on-chip source device-independent (SDI) quantum random number generator (QRNG) that achieves a secure bit rate of 583.2 Gbps within a compact 3 mm ×11 mm ×11 mm footprint, marking an advance in both integration and speed, nearly 30 times faster than the best existing integrated SDI implementations. By harnessing measurement-induced quantum uncertainty as a resource for quantum certification, this study resolves the challenge of uniting high-speed certified entropy bounds with full monolithic integration in SDI QRC. A universal entropy bound incorporating high-bandwidth physical constraints enables accurate entropy estimation under integrated conditions. This theoretical framework supports a four-path multi-interference measurement scheme that improves entropy yield and fills a critical gap in digital-layer security under coherent attacks. These contributions are experimentally embodied in a compact photonic–electronic chip that performs NIST-compliant secure entropy extraction, demonstrating the feasibility of combining high-speed performance with full system integration. Compatible with standard optical communication infrastructure, this study sets a new benchmark for scalable high-speed QRC, enabling robust security and broad applicability across quantum computing, the internet, and cryptography.

DOI
10.1364/prj.597144

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The rapid rise of quantum computing and quantum internet highlights the irreplaceable importance of high-speed, scalable quantum randomness certification (QRC). However, existing QRC implementations are constrained by quantum measurement limits and integration bottlenecks, leaving both high-speed operation and monolithic implementation unrealized. Here, we demonstrate a monolithically integrated photonic–electronic on-chip source device-independent (SDI) quantum random number generator (QRNG) that achieves a secure bit rate of 583.2 Gbps within a compact 3 mm ×11 mm ×11 mm footprint, marking an advance in both integration and speed, nearly 30 times faster than the best existing integrated SDI implementations. By harnessing measurement-induced quantum uncertainty as a resource for quantum certification, this study resolves the challenge of uniting high-speed certified entropy bounds with full monolithic integration in SDI QRC. A universal entropy bound incorporating high-bandwidth physical constraints enables accurate entropy estimation under integrated conditions. This theoretical framework supports a four-path multi-interference measurement scheme that improves entropy yield and fills a critical gap in digital-layer security under coherent attacks. These contributions are experimentally embodied in a compact photonic–electronic chip that performs NIST-compliant secure entropy extraction, demonstrating the feasibility of combining high-speed performance with full system integration. Compatible with standard optical communication infrastructure, this study sets a new benchmark for scalable high-speed QRC, enabling robust security and broad applicability across quantum computing, the internet, and cryptography.
Quantum resources offer intrinsic randomness that is valuable for applications such as cryptography, scientific simulation, and computing. Silicon-based photonics chips present an excellent platform for the cost-effective deployment of next-generation quantum systems on a large scale, even at room temperature. Nevertheless, the potential susceptibility of these chips to hacker control poses a challenge in ensuring security for on-chip quantum random number generation, which is crucial for enabling extensive utilization of quantum resources. Here, we introduce and implement an on-chip source-device-independent quantum random number generator (SDI-QRNG). The randomness of this generator is achieved through distortion-free on-chip detection of quantum resources, effectively eliminating classical noise interference. The security of the system is ensured by employing on-chip criteria for estimating security entropy in a practical chip environment. By incorporating a photoelectric package, the SDI-QRNG chip achieves a secure bit rate of 146.2 Mbps and a bare chip rate of 248.47 Gbps, with all extracted secure bits successfully passing the randomness test. Our experimental demonstration of this chip-level SDI-QRNG shows significant advantages in practical applications, paving the way for the widespread and cost-effective implementation of room-temperature secure QRNG, which marks a milestone in the field of QRNG chips.
We present a high-speed continuous-variable quantum random number generator (QRNG) based on heterodyne detection of vacuum fluctuations. The scheme follows a source-device-independent (SDI) security model in which the entropy originates from quantum measurement uncertainty and no model of the source is required; security depends only on the trusted measurement device and the calibrated discretization, and thus remains valid even under adversarial state preparation. The optical field is split by a 90∘^\circ∘ optical hybrid and measured by two balanced photodiodes to obtain both quadratures of the vacuum state simultaneously. The analog outputs are digitized using a dual-channel 12-bit analog-to-digital converter operating at a sampling rate of 3.2 GS/s per channel, and processed in real time by an FPGA implementing Toeplitz hashing for randomness extraction. The quantum-to-classical noise ratio was verified through calibrated power spectral density measurements and cross-checked in the time domain, confirming vacuum-noise dominance within the 1.6 GHz detection bandwidth. After extraction, the system achieves a sustained generation rate of Rnet=33.92 Gbit/sR_{\rm net}= 33.92~\mathrm{Gbit/s}Rnet​=33.92 Gbit/s of uniformly distributed random bits, which pass all NIST and Dieharder statistical tests. The demonstrated platform provides a compact, FPGA-based realization of a practical heterodyne continuous-variable source-independent QRNG suitable for high-rate quantum communication and secure key distribution systems.
Semi-device-independent QRNG frameworks represent a particularly attractive approach, combining strong security guarantees with high randomness generation rates while relying only on reduced and practical physical assumptions. A recently proposed approach based on photon-number constraints is particularly suited to photonic implementations, where these assumptions can be easily assessed experimentally. Here, we experimentally demonstrate a quantum random number generator within this framework, enabling the direct computation of lower bounds on the certifiable Shannon entropy via semidefinite relaxation techniques. When combined with entropy accumulation methods, this approach enables finite-size randomness certification without assuming independent and identically distributed rounds. We realize the protocol using a four-state coherent-state constellation symmetrically distributed in phase space and measured by heterodyne detection, certifying 0.223 bit per measurement, which is the highest value reported to date for a continuous-variable semi-device-independent QRNG. The implementation combines a low-loss integrated photonic heterodyne receiver with a simple transmitter assembled from commercial components, providing a practical and high-speed architecture for semi-device-independent randomness generation.
Randomness amplification, the task of extracting uniform private bits from biased seeds that may be partly known by a malicious third party, is of central importance in cryptography. The highest security in this task is provided by a class of quantum protocols known as device-independent, which however are challenging to integrate into scalable devices. Semi-device-independent (SDI) protocols are a promising alternative that guarantees security under few natural assumptions, such as bounds on the amount of energy used by the devices. Here, we provide the first demonstration of SDI randomness amplification on an integrated silicon photonic chip, achieving a throughput rate of 20 Mbps suitable for practical applications. This rate is achieved through a novel technique for SDI entropy certification, which delivers strictly tighter von Neumann entropy bounds compared to existing methods and remains valid even if the preparation and measurement devices share quantum correlations. Overall, the methods developed in this work enable the integration of SDI technology into portable telecom devices, opening up a new generation of quantum cryptographic hardware.
We present a semi-device-independent quantum random number generator (QRNG) based on the violation of a contextuality inequality, implemented by the integration of two silicon photonic chips. Our system combines a heralded single-photon source with a reconfigurable interferometric mesh to implement qutrit state preparation, transformations, and measurements suitable for testing a KCBS contextuality inequality. This architecture enables the generation of random numbers from the intrinsic randomness of single-photon interference in a complex optical network, while simultaneously allowing a quantitative certification of their security without requiring entanglement. We observe a contextuality violation exceeding the classical bound by more than 10σ, unambiguously confirming non-classical behavior. From this violation, we certify a conditional min-entropy per experimental round of Hmin = 0.077 +- 0.002, derived via a tailored semidefinite-programming-based security analysis. Each measurement outcome therefore contains at least 0.077 +- 0.002 bits of extractable genuine randomness, corresponding to an asymptotic generation rate of 21.7 +- 0.5 bits/s. These results establish a viable route towards general-purpose, untrusted quantum random number generators compatible with practical integrated photonic quantum networks.
Abstract Quantum randomness relies heavily on the accurate characterization of the generator implementation, where the device imperfection or inaccurate characterization can lead to incorrect entropy estimation and practical bias, significantly affecting the reliability of the generated randomness. Measurement-device-independent (MDI) quantum random number generation (QRNG) endeavors to produce certified randomness, utilizing uncharacterized and untrusted measurement devices that are vulnerable to numerous attack schemes targeting measurement loopholes. However, existing implementations have shown insufficient performance thus far. Here, we propose a high-speed MDI-QRNG scheme based on a robust measurement tomography approach against the imperfection of single-photon sources. Compared with the conventional approach, the decoy-state method is introduced to obtain more accurate tomography results and a tighter lower bound of randomness. Finally, by using a high-speed time-bin encoding system, we experimentally demonstrated the scheme and obtained a reliable min-entropy lower bound of 7.37 × 10 − 2 bits per pulse, corresponding to a generation rate over 23 Mbps, which substantially outperforms the existing realizations and makes a record in discrete-variable semi-device-independent QRNGs.