Quantum random number generation based on the times of photon detections


Ágoston Kristóf Schranz
BME - Budapest University of Technology and Economics, Hungary


ABSTRACT - Quantum random number generation (QRNG) has become an increasingly important field in the recent years, since it can provide uniformly distributed, completely unpredictable bits by exploiting the entropy of quantum measurements. Optical phenomena are especially promising, as the emission and detection of photons is technologically well established. Several optical QRNG methods are discussed, focusing mainly on those that measure the times elapsed between photon detections to obtain random numbers. The importance of mathematical modelling and randomness testing is also outlined via examples, comparing slower but more robust schemes to faster ones, which are more sensitive towards changes in ambient factors.