High speed optical quantum random number generation

We present a fully integrated, ready-for-use quantum random number generator (QRNG) whose stochastic model is based on the randomness of detecting single photons in attenuated light. We show that often annoying deadtime effects associated with photomultiplier tubes (PMT) can be utilized to avoid postprocessing for bias or correlations. The random numbers directly delivered to a PC, generated at a rate of up to 50 Mbit/s, clearly pass all tests relevant for (physical) random number generators. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America