Quantum Random Number Generator Based On Dark Counts Of Single Photon Detector

From the origin of the ancient Greek mathematics to nowadays,random number has an indispensable status,no matter in daily life,entertainment,or in the industrial manufacturing,scientific research,economic and financial field.After Brassard and Bennett proposed BB84 in 1984,various quantum communication protocols have emerged.The quality of random numbers applied to these protocols plays a key role.Since 2000,the randomness and uncertainty of quantum mechanics has been widely applied to the design of quantum random number generator,but most of them depend on different kinds of light source,it also led to the system is more sensitive to slight environmental change.In view of this,we proposed two quantum random number generators in this paper,which did not include any light source.This paper first made a summarization on several quantum random number generator schemes and protocols.Afterwards,we made an investigation on discrete quantum random number generator and continuous type respectively,and found out the similarities of them,namely,currently widely applied post-processing methods and the NIST Test suite and Diehard Test in randomness tests.In the scheme,we believe that the dependence of most protools on light source is the key factor that restricts most quantum random number generators from practical application.We then focus on the relatively stable electronic systems under the environmental influences.As the system was determined,we the conducted an in-depth investigation of InGaAs/InP avalanche diode.In the dark counts of the avalanche diode,a very important part comes from the free electrons and holes' tunneling effect between the diode inner valence band and conduction band.Based on the intrinsic randomness of the quantum-tunneling phenomenon,we have developed a quantum random number generator scheme based on the diode bandband tunneling and trap-assisted tunneling,which are controlled by Geiger mode bias.So far,we have completed the production of In Ga As quantum random number generator with stable output speed of 15MB/s.After the successful design of In Ga As/In P quantum random number generator,Si diode also attracted our attention.Its smaller size and better-investigated production strategies make it a strong candidate for a practical quantum random number generator.The difference between the In Ga As/In P and Si system is that we utilized the signal time interval as a random source in the Si scheme and get a good result.In this paper,we developed quantum random number generator based on In Ga As and Si single photon detectors.Based on the analysis of dark current in In Ga As avalanche diode,the factors influencing the quality of random number and the rate are controlled and discussed.We find that the random number generator has following characteristics: first,in the In Ga As random number generator,the voltage variation near the ideal sampling voltage has less influence on the random number generation rate.Secondly,the system can be stable through several random number tests after the hashing method based on the minimum entropy is adopted.Finally,the Si random number generator based on the signal intervals is very stable,the minimum entropy is close to the ideal entropy,and the robustness is higher.