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Main Authors: Qiu, KaiWei, Cai, Yu, Ng, Nelly H. Y., Haw, Jing Yan
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
Subjects:
Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.00636
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author Qiu, KaiWei
Cai, Yu
Ng, Nelly H. Y.
Haw, Jing Yan
author_facet Qiu, KaiWei
Cai, Yu
Ng, Nelly H. Y.
Haw, Jing Yan
contents Quantum random number generators (QRNGs) harness the inherent unpredictability of quantum mechanics to produce true randomness. Yet, in many optical implementations, the light source remains a potential vulnerability - susceptible to deviations from ideal behavior and even adversarial eavesdropping. Source-device-independent (SDI) protocols address this with a pragmatic strategy, by removing trust assumptions on the source, and instead rely on realistic modelling and characterization of the measurement device. In this work, we enhance an existing SDI-QRNG protocol by eliminating the need for a perfectly balanced beam splitter within the trusted measurement device, which is an idealized assumption made for the simplification of security analysis. We demonstrate that certified randomness can still be reliably extracted across a wide range of beam-splitting ratios, significantly improving the protocol's practicality and robustness. Using only off-the-shelf components, our implementation achieves real-time randomness generation rates of 0.347 Gbps. We also experimentally validate the protocol's resilience against adversarial attacks and highlight its self-testing capabilities. These advances mark a significant step toward practical, lightweight, high-performance, fully-passive, and composably secure QRNGs suitable for real-world deployment.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2505_00636
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Fully passive quantum random number generation with untrusted light
Qiu, KaiWei
Cai, Yu
Ng, Nelly H. Y.
Haw, Jing Yan
Quantum Physics
Quantum random number generators (QRNGs) harness the inherent unpredictability of quantum mechanics to produce true randomness. Yet, in many optical implementations, the light source remains a potential vulnerability - susceptible to deviations from ideal behavior and even adversarial eavesdropping. Source-device-independent (SDI) protocols address this with a pragmatic strategy, by removing trust assumptions on the source, and instead rely on realistic modelling and characterization of the measurement device. In this work, we enhance an existing SDI-QRNG protocol by eliminating the need for a perfectly balanced beam splitter within the trusted measurement device, which is an idealized assumption made for the simplification of security analysis. We demonstrate that certified randomness can still be reliably extracted across a wide range of beam-splitting ratios, significantly improving the protocol's practicality and robustness. Using only off-the-shelf components, our implementation achieves real-time randomness generation rates of 0.347 Gbps. We also experimentally validate the protocol's resilience against adversarial attacks and highlight its self-testing capabilities. These advances mark a significant step toward practical, lightweight, high-performance, fully-passive, and composably secure QRNGs suitable for real-world deployment.
title Fully passive quantum random number generation with untrusted light
topic Quantum Physics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2505.00636