OPTICAL RANDOM-NUMBER GENERATOR BASED ON SINGLE-PHOTON STATISTICS AT THE OPTICAL BEAM SPLITTER

摘要

The invention concerns a random-check generator for generating a random number which is preferably represented in binary form, with a particle source, a random-check generating element which acts on particles emitted by the particle source, and a detection system which allocates a numerical value, preferably in binary form, to the detection of a particle emerging from the random-check generating element. The object of the invention is to ensure that the random-check generator is not susceptible to external interference and delivers high-quality random numbers. To that end, the particle source can emit at least two particles substantially simultaneously, and one particle can activate the detection system in order to detect a further particle influenced by the random-check generating element and allocate a numerical value thereto.