Parallel and real-time post-processing for quantum random number generators

Abstract: Quantum random number generators (QRNG) based on continuous variable (CV) quantum fluctuations offer great potential for their advantages in measurement bandwidth, stability and integrability. More importantly, it provides an efficient and extensible path for significant promotion of QRNG generation rate. During this process, real-time randomness extraction using information theoretically secure randomness extractors is vital, because it plays critical role in the limit of throughput rate and implementation cost of QRNGs. In this work, we investigate parallel and real-time realization of several Toeplitz-hashing extractors within one field-programmable gate array (FPGA) for parallel QRNG. Elaborate layout of Toeplitz matrixes and efficient utilization of hardware computing resource in the FPGA are emphatically studied. Logic source occupation for different scale and quantity of Toeplitz matrices is analyzed and two-layer parallel pipeline algorithm is delicately designed to fully exploit the parallel algorithm advantage and hardware source of the FPGA. This work finally achieves a real-time post-processing rate of QRNG above 8 Gbps. Matching up with integrated circuit for parallel extraction of multiple quantum sideband modes of vacuum state, our demonstration shows an important step towards chip-based parallel QRNG, which could effectively improve the practicality of CV QRNGs, including device trusted, device-independent, and semi-device-independent schemes.