Random number generation based on single-photon detectors

Abstract

In quantum cryptography, random number generators play a crucial role in the quantum key distribution system. Only truly random numbers can be used as secured keys for encoding of information. This project makes use of the comparison of photon arrival times at a detector, accompanied with the Toeplitz hashing algorithm to generate random bits. Apart from this, a new model to characterize afterpulsing probability was formulated. This has shed light on the main concerns faced when dealing with photo-detectors as well as the reasons that has caused non-randomness to the random number generator.