dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaSecure self-calibrating quantum random bit generator
| Authors | M. Fiorentino, C. M. Santori, S. M. Spillane, W. J. Munro, R. G. Beausoleil |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | quant-ph/0612112 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0612112 |
| DOI | 10.1103/PhysRevA.75.032334 |
| Journal | Phys. Rev. A 75, 032334 (2007) |
Abstract
Random bit generators (RBGs) are key components of a variety of information processing applications ranging from simulations to cryptography. In particular, cryptographic systems require "strong" RBGs that produce high-entropy bit sequences, but traditional software pseudo-RBGs have very low entropy content and therefore are relatively weak for cryptography. Hardware RBGs yield entropy from chaotic or quantum physical systems and therefore are expected to exhibit high entropy, but in current implementations their exact entropy content is unknown. Here we report a quantum random bit generator (QRBG) that harvests entropy by measuring single-photon and entangled two-photon polarization states. We introduce and implement a quantum tomographic method to measure a lower bound on the "min-entropy" of the system, and we employ this value to distill a truly random bit sequence. This approach is secure: even if an attacker takes control of the source of optical states, a secure random sequence can be distilled.
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"abstract": "Random bit generators (RBGs) are key components of a variety of information\nprocessing applications ranging from simulations to cryptography. In\nparticular, cryptographic systems require \"strong\" RBGs that produce\nhigh-entropy bit sequences, but traditional software pseudo-RBGs have very low\nentropy content and therefore are relatively weak for cryptography. Hardware\nRBGs yield entropy from chaotic or quantum physical systems and therefore are\nexpected to exhibit high entropy, but in current implementations their exact\nentropy content is unknown. Here we report a quantum random bit generator\n(QRBG) that harvests entropy by measuring single-photon and entangled\ntwo-photon polarization states. We introduce and implement a quantum\ntomographic method to measure a lower bound on the \"min-entropy\" of the system,\nand we employ this value to distill a truly random bit sequence. This approach\nis secure: even if an attacker takes control of the source of optical states, a\nsecure random sequence can be distilled.",
"arxiv_id": "quant-ph/0612112",
"authors": [
"M. Fiorentino",
"C. M. Santori",
"S. M. Spillane",
"W. J. Munro",
"R. G. Beausoleil"
],
"categories": [
"quant-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1103/PhysRevA.75.032334",
"journal_ref": "Phys. Rev. A 75, 032334 (2007)",
"title": "Secure self-calibrating quantum random bit generator",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/quant-ph/0612112"
},
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