Tbits/s physical random bit generation based on mutually coupled semiconductor laser chaotic entropy source.

Area of Science:

• Optoelectronics
• Information Security
• Applied Physics

Background:

• Generating high-speed physical random bits (PRBs) is crucial for modern cryptography and secure communications.
• Existing methods often face limitations in speed and randomness quality for terabit-per-second applications.
• Mutually coupled semiconductor lasers (MC-SLs) offer a promising avenue for chaotic signal generation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To demonstrate and experimentally analyze a novel scheme for generating ultra-fast Tbit/s PRBs.
• To leverage the chaotic outputs of MC-SLs as entropy sources for PRB generation.
• To validate the randomness and quality of the generated PRBs using established statistical tests.

Main Methods:

• Utilizing two parallel MC-SLs as independent chaotic entropy sources.
• Applying optimized post-processing techniques to extract PRB streams.
• Merging extracted PRB streams via interleaving to achieve higher generation rates.
• Performing NIST Special Publication 800-22 statistical tests to verify randomness.
• Analyzing statistical bias and serial correlation for large sequence lengths (10 Gbits).

Main Results:

• Achieved parallel PRB generation rates of 0.56 Tbit/s from individual entropy sources.
• Successfully generated a merged PRB stream at 1.12 Tbit/s, meeting NIST statistical test criteria.
• Even after considering min-entropy constraints, PRB generation rates of 0.48 Tbit/s (parallel) and 0.96 Tbit/s (merged) were attained.
• Demonstrated low statistical bias and serial correlation for generated PRB streams.

Conclusions:

• The proposed scheme effectively generates ultra-fast Tbit/s PRBs with proven randomness.
• MC-SLs are a viable and efficient source for high-rate physical random bit generation.
• The method offers a scalable solution for secure communication systems requiring high-quality random data.