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Strong experimental guarantees in ultrafast quantum random number generation
We describe a methodology and standard of proof for experimental claims of
quantum random number generation (QRNG), analogous to well-established methods
from precision measurement. For appropriately constructed physical
implementations, lower bounds on the quantum contribution to the average
min-entropy can be derived from measurements on the QRNG output. Given these
bounds, randomness extractors allow generation of nearly perfect
"{\epsilon}-random" bit streams. An analysis of experimental uncertainties then
gives experimentally derived confidence levels on the {\epsilon} randomness of
these sequences. We demonstrate the methodology by application to
phase-diffusion QRNG, driven by spontaneous emission as a trusted randomness
source. All other factors, including classical phase noise, amplitude
fluctuations, digitization errors and correlations due to finite detection
bandwidth, are treated with paranoid caution, i.e., assuming the worst possible
behaviors consistent with observations. A data-constrained numerical
optimization of the distribution of untrusted parameters is used to lower bound
the average min-entropy. Under this paranoid analysis, the QRNG remains
efficient, generating at least 2.3 quantum random bits per symbol with 8-bit
digitization and at least 0.83 quantum random bits per symbol with binary
digitization, at a confidence level of 0.99993. The result demonstrates
ultrafast QRNG with strong experimental guarantees.Comment: 11 pages, 9 figure
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