Compact quantum random number generator with Silicon nanocrystals light emitting device coupled to a Silicon photomultiplier

Abstract

A small-sized photonic quantum random number generator, easy to be implemented in small electronic devices for secure data encryption and other applications, is highly demanding nowadays. Here, we propose a compact configuration with Silicon nanocrystals large area light emitting device (LED) coupled to a Silicon photomultiplier to generate random numbers. The random number generation methodology is based on the photon arrival time and is robust against the non-idealities of the detector and the source of quantum entropy. The raw data show high quality of randomness and pass all the statistical tests in national institute of standards and technology tests (NIST) suite without a post-processing algorithm. The highest bit rate is 0.5 Mbps with the efficiency of 4 bits per detected photon.