Certified Quantum Random Numbers from untrusted light

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A team of researchers from Germany, Russia and UK has designed and experimentally demonstrated an ultrafast optical Quantum Random Number Generator (QRNG) that uses a totally untrusted photonic source. 

While considering completely general quantum attacks, they certified and generated in real time random numbers at a rate of 8.05 Gb/s with a composable security parameter of 10−10.

Composable security is the most stringent and useful security paradigm because any given protocol remains secure even if arbitrarily combined with other instances of the same, or other, protocols, thereby allowing the generated randomness to be utilized for arbitrary applications in cryptography and beyond.

This work achieves the fastest generation of composably secure quantum random numbers ever reported.

The paper has been published in Physical Review Letters.