Pseudothermal light based quantum random number generator

Abstract

The importance of quantum random number generators (QRNGs) is increasing day by day. An important aspect of any QRNG is the speed of the system. This paper introduces the theory behind a pseudothermal light based QRNG. This pseudothermal effect is provided by using an optical scatterer in the setup. Pseudothermal light is used as the local oscillator of the system instead of a conventional coherent or thermal light source where the pseudothermal light combines the advantages of both sources. This technique converts the Poissonian distribution of light to super-Poissonian to have better randomness characteristics and allow a faster bit generation rate.