Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2017 Apr 4:8:45900.
doi: 10.1038/srep45900.

640-Gbit/s fast physical random number generation using a broadband chaotic semiconductor laser

Limeng Zhang  1 , Biwei Pan  1 , Guangcan Chen  1 , Lu Guo  1 , Dan Lu  1 , Lingjuan Zhao  1 , Wei Wang  1
Affiliations

640-Gbit/s fast physical random number generation using a broadband chaotic semiconductor laser

Limeng Zhang et al. Sci Rep. .

Abstract

An ultra-fast physical random number generator is demonstrated utilizing a photonic integrated device based broadband chaotic source with a simple post data processing method. The compact chaotic source is implemented by using a monolithic integrated dual-mode amplified feedback laser (AFL) with self-injection, where a robust chaotic signal with RF frequency coverage of above 50 GHz and flatness of ±3.6 dB is generated. By using 4-least significant bits (LSBs) retaining from the 8-bit digitization of the chaotic waveform, random sequences with a bit-rate up to 640 Gbit/s (160 GS/s × 4 bits) are realized. The generated random bits have passed each of the fifteen NIST statistics tests (NIST SP800-22), indicating its randomness for practical applications.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. The schematic diagram of fast physical random number generation setup.
Inset: microscope photography of the monolithic integrated dual-mode amplified feedback laser (AFL). EDFA, erbium-doped fiber amplifier; OC, optical coupler; VOA, variable optical attenuator; PC, polarization controller; PD, photodetector; ADC, analog-to-digital converter; LSBs, least significant bits.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Measured (a) optical and (b) RF spectra of the free running dual-mode AFL; measured (c) optical and (d) RF spectra of the chaotic AFL after optical feedback.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Measured (a) time trace, (b) probability density distribution and (c) autocorrelation function of the generated broadband chaotic waveform.
Figure 4
Figure 4. Dynamic routes into the chaotic state of the dual-mode AFL with optical feedback.
Feedback strength from the top to the bottom are (a) free-running; (b) −5 dBm; (c) −2.9 dBm; (d) −0.8 dBm; (e) 3.7 dBm and (f) 6 dBm. The first and second column illustrate the optical spectrum and RF spectrum (RBW: 3 MHz; VBW: 1 kHz), respectively. The gray lines in RF spectra are the noise floor.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Probability distribution histogram of the digitalized chaotic waveform with (a) 7-LSBs, (b) 6-LSBs, (c) 5-LSBs and (d) 4-LSBs retained from each 8-bit sample.
Figure 6
Figure 6. Autocorrelation functions for 4-LSBs retaining signal (blue line) and original 8-bits signal (red dots).
Inset: zoom in view of the center correlation peak.
Figure 7
Figure 7. Random number patterns with 600 × 600 dots in two-dimensional plane.
Bits “0” and “1” are converted to white and black dots, respectively.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Gallager R. G. Principles of digital communication vol. 1 (Cambridge University Press, 2008).
    1. Gisin N., Ribordy G., Tittel W. & Zbinden H. Quantum cryptography. Reviews of modern physics 74 (2002).
    1. Metropolis N. & Ulam S. The monte carlo method. Journal of the American statistical association 44 (1949). - PubMed
    1. Asmussen S. & Glynn P. W. Stochastic simulation: algorithms and analysis. Springer Science and Business Media 57 (2007).
    1. James F. A review of pseudorandom number generators. Computer Physics Communications 60 (1990).

Publication types