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All-optical fast random number generator

Article  in  Optics Express · September 2010

DOI: 10.1364/OE.18.020360 · Source: PubMed

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 All-optical fast random number generator
Pu Li, Yun-Cai Wang,* and Jian-Zhong Zhang
Department of Physics, College of Science, Taiyuan University of Technology, Taiyuan 030024, China
*wangyc@tyut.edu.cn

Abstract: We propose a scheme of all-optical random number generator

(RNG), which consists of an ultra-wide bandwidth (UWB) chaotic laser, an
all-optical sampler and an all-optical comparator. Free from the electric-
device bandwidth, it can generate 10Gbit/s random numbers in our
simulation. The high-speed bit sequences can pass standard statistical tests
for randomness after all-optical exclusive-or (XOR) operation.
©2010 Optical Society of America
OCIS codes: (140.1540) Chaos; (190.3100) Instabilities and chaos; (140.5960) Semiconductor
lasers; (060.4510) Optical communications.

References and links

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(C) 2010 OSA 13 September 2010 / Vol. 18, No. 19 / OPTICS EXPRESS 20360
23. A. Rukhin, et al., “NIST Statistical Tests Suite,”
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1. Introduction
Random numbers have a wide range of applications. For example, they are used as ranging
signal in radar system, controlling signal in remote control, encryption codes or keys in digital
communication, address codes and spread spectrum codes in code division multiple access
(CDMA). They are also used in the statistics to solve problems in many fields such as nuclear
medicine, finance and computer graphics.
There are two approaches to generate random numbers: software-based and physics-based.
The former can produce high-speed pseudorandom numbers with rates of several Gbit/s
utilizing deterministic algorithms, but it is vulnerable when such pseudorandom numbers are
used as the keys to encryption systems. However, the latter can generate physical random
numbers and ensure the confidentiality of secure communication by means of the inherently
random or unpredictable processes in the physical world. Stochastic noise [1,2], radioactive
decay [3] and frequency jitter of electronic oscillator [4] have gotten used widely as entropy
sources in the generation of physical random sequences. Unfortunately, limited by the
mechanism of extracting bit sequences, these systems have much slower rates. A more
convenient method to generate random numbers is based on chaotic circuits [5–8], but the
narrow bandwidths (<1GHz) of electric chaos make the generation rates of this kind of
method be not more than 200Mbit/s up to now. An unconditional secure system should be
encrypted with truly random number as long as the plaintext, but the generation rates of
trusted random numbers achieved with existing physical sources are much slower than the
data rates of communications.
In recent years, the chaotic laser has become a more attractive physical source for high-
speed random numbers generation, due to its high bandwidth. In 2008, Uchida et al. [9] for
the fist time realized experimentally a 1.7 Gbit/s random number generator (RNG) by using
wide bandwidth chaotic lasers. In their experiment, each of the chaotic lights was firstly
converted into an electrical signal by a photodetector, and then to a binary signal using a 1-bit
analog-to-digital converter (ADC). The binary bit signals were combined by a logical
exclusive-or (XOR) operation to obtain a sequence of random bits. In 2009, Kanter and his
colleagues [10,11] achieved RNGs at higher bit rates with a single chaotic laser by extracting
more than one bit per sample in off-line processing of experimental chaotic laser time series.
Very recently, Uchida et al.demonstrated another fast random bit generation using bandwidth-
enhanced chaotic laser [12]. However, all these RNGs based on chaotic laser process signals
in the electronic domain, so their random number generation rates are limited by the
bottleneck of electronic signal processing.
In this paper, we propose and demonstrate an all-optical RNG based on chaotic laser,
which does all signal processing only in the optical domain, with no photoelectric conversion.
It can provide reliable high-speed random numbers for the cipher, one-time pad. Moreover,
the all-optical random numbers can be compatible with the optical signal transmitted in
optical communication networks directly, with no need of any external modulators.
2. Principle of all-optical RNG
The schematic diagram of the all-optical RNG is shown in Fig. 1, which includes three parts:
an ultra-wide bandwidth (UWB) chaotic laser as random number source, a Sagnac
interferometer as all-optical sampler and a λ/4-shifted DFB lasers (λ/4 DFB) as all-optical
comparator. The output of UWB chaotic laser, whose intensity varies unpredictably with time,
is sampled through the all-optical sampler driven by an optical clock, and then converted into
a random number sequence using the all-optical comparator. The specific procedures are
given in the following.

#130680 - $15.00 USD Received 25 Jun 2010; revised 19 Aug 2010; accepted 23 Aug 2010; published 9 Sep 2010
(C) 2010 OSA 13 September 2010 / Vol. 18, No. 19 / OPTICS EXPRESS 20361
 Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the proposed all-optical RNG: (a) UWB chaotic laser; (b) all-
optical sampler; (c) all-optical comparator. DFB, single-mode distributed-feedback laser; PC,
polarization controller; EDFA, erbium-doped optical fiber amplifier; VA, variable attenuator;
30/70, 30/70 optical fiber coupler; 50/50, 50/50 optical fiber coupler; HNLF, highly nonlinear
fiber; BPF, bandpass filter; CW, continuous-wave light; λ/4DFB, λ/4-shifted DFB laser.

2.1 UWB chaotic laser

The implementation of the UWB chaotic laser is shown in Fig. 1(a). A single-mode
distributed-feedback (DFB) laser diode, the slave laser, subject to optical feedback with a
fiber ring cavity, is referred to as the original chaotic laser. The power of feedback light can
be adjusted with a variable attenuator (VA). The polarization state of the feedback light is
matched to that of the slave laser by a polarization controller PC2. Another DFB laser diode,
the injection laser, is used to enhance the bandwidth of the original chaotic signal by injecting
continuous-wave (CW) light into the slave laser through a 30/70 optical fiber coupler. The
power and polarization state of the injection light are controlled by an erbium-doped optical
fiber amplifier (EDFA) and PC3, respectively. An optical isolator (Isolator) is used to prevent
unwanted optical feedback into the injection laser. The injection laser is wavelength adjusted
to an appropriate optical frequency detuning to the free-running slave laser. Thus, a UWB
chaotic laser can be generated.
The system can be modeled by a set of rate equations for slave laser electric complex
amplitude E and carrier density N, respectively, as expressed in the following equations:

dE 1 + iα  g(N − N )  κ κ
=  0
− τ p−1  E + f E (t − τ ) × exp(−i 2πν sτ ) + j E j exp(i∆ν t )， (1)
dt 2  1 + ε E
2
 τ in τ in

dN I N g ( N − N0 ) 2
= − − E ， (2)
dt qV τ N 1+ ε E
2

where κf and κj denote the feedback and injection strength, the amplitude of injection laser |Ej|
is equal to that of the solitary slave laser, and ∆ν = νinj – νs is the frequency detuning between
the injection and the slave lasers. The following parameters were used in simulations:
transparency carrier density N0 = 0.455 × 106 µm−3, threshold current Ith = 22 mA, differential
gain g = 1.414 × 10−3 µm−3ns−1, carrier lifetime τN = 2.5 ns, photon lifetime τp = 1.17 ps,
round-trip time in laser intra-cavity τin = 7.38 ps, line-width enhancement factor α = 5.0, gain
saturation parameter ε = 5 × 10−5 µm3, active laser volume V = 324 µm3, the frequency
detuning ∆ν = 0 GHz, and the optical injection strength κj = 0.15. The slave laser was biased
at 1.7Ith. More details see [13] and [14].

#130680 - $15.00 USD Received 25 Jun 2010; revised 19 Aug 2010; accepted 23 Aug 2010; published 9 Sep 2010
(C) 2010 OSA 13 September 2010 / Vol. 18, No. 19 / OPTICS EXPRESS 20362
2.2 All-optical sampler
As shown in Fig. 1(b), the all-optical sampler consists of an optical switch based on nonlinear
Sagnac interferometer [15–17]. This optical switch is comprised of a 3dB coupler (50/50), a
WDM coupler, a mode-locked laser, a length of highly nonlinear fiber (HNLF), two
polarization controllers (PC4 and PC5), an isolator and an optical bandpass filter (BPF1). The
PC4 placed in the Sagnac loop adjusts the polarization to maximize the on-off ratio of the
interferometer. This switch has three ports: one control light input, one probe light input, and
one switched output port of the probe light. The isolator prevents the back flow of the
reflected probe light and the control light. The BPF1 removes the control light and transmits
only the probe light. The output level is determined by the amount of the cross-phase
modulation (XPM) exerted by the control light onto the probe light.
In order for this device to work as an all-optical sampler, a train of clock pulses, generated
by the mode-locked laser operating at wavelength λ2, are launched as the control light into the
Sagnac loop via the WDM coupler, while the UWB chaotic light operating at λ1, is injected as
the probe light into the loop via the 3dB coupler. The interaction between the UWB chaotic
light and clock pulses in HNLF is described in terms of the well-known nonlinear
Schrödinger equations [18,19].
∂E j α i ∂2 E j
= iγ ( E j + 2∑ Ek ) E j ,
2 2
+ E j + β2 (3)
∂z 2 2 ∂T 2
k≠ j

Here, j, k is chosen to be 1, or 2. E1 and E2 represent the slowly varying complex electrical

field amplitude of the UWB chaotic light and clock pulses train, respectively. z is the
propagation distance, and T is the time measured in a reference frame moving at the group
velocity. α, β2, γ are the fiber attenuation coefficient, the second-order dispersion parameter
and the nonlinear coefficient, respectively. The two terms on the right-hand side of Eq. (3) are
due to self-phase modulation (SPM) and cross-phase modulation (XPM), respectively. The
factor of 2 shows that XPM is twice as effective as SPM for the same intensity. In our
numerical simulations, the typical parameter values of HNLF is set to be α = 0.2 dB/km, β2 =
5.1 ps2/km and γ = 20 W−1km−1.
Transmitted optical power of UWB chaotic light Pout satisfies the following formula:
1
Pout = Pin [1 − cos(ϕCW − ϕ CCW )], (4)
2
where Pin = |Ein|2 is the power of the injected chaotic light and φCW - φCCW is the phase
difference between the clockwise and the counter clockwise traveling chaotic light. The phase
shift of the UWB chaotic laser traveling clockwise and counterclockwise, φCW and φCCW, can
be written as φCW = 2γPpeakL, and φCCW = 2γPaveL, respectively, where, Ppeak is the peak power
of each clock pulse, Pave is the average power of the clock pulse and L is the length of HNLF.
When the phase difference becomes π or 0 radian through adjusting the peak power and
average power of the clock pulses and the length of HNLF, the corresponding chaotic light is
entirely transmitted from the output port or reflected back to the Sagnac loop. Specific
parameters used in the simulation have been given out in Section 3. Consequently, the
sampling of the chaotic laser can be realized.
2.3 All-optical comparator
The realization of the all-optical comparator is based on the bistability [20,21] proposed by
Huybrechts et al. in 2008. This kind of bistability can be described as below: A λ/4-shifted
DFB laser (λ/4DFB) with antireflection-coated facets is biased above threshold. When an
external light outside the stopband of the grating is injected into the laser, two different stable
states where the laser works can be distinguished: one in which the laser is lasing and the
other where the laser is switched off.
Under injection of only continuous-wave (CW) light, a curve of the bistability about the
lasing light of the λ/4DFB is shown in Fig. 2, which is Huybrechts’ experimental result in

#130680 - $15.00 USD Received 25 Jun 2010; revised 19 Aug 2010; accepted 23 Aug 2010; published 9 Sep 2010
(C) 2010 OSA 13 September 2010 / Vol. 18, No. 19 / OPTICS EXPRESS 20363
[21]. From Fig. 2, we can see clearly that only when injection light power is above Pth2 named
as the threshold power, the output power of lasing light will jump down to a tiny level of
nearly 0 mW. While the injection light power is below Pth1, the output power of lasing light
will maintain a higher level around 1 mW. Note that the bistability domain, i.e. the hysteresis
curve width expressed as ∆P = Pth2-Pth1, can become narrower by decreasing the bias current
of the λ/4DFB laser. This point has been demonstrated by Huybrechts numerically and
experimentally [20,21].

Fig. 2. Bistability curve: laser output power as a function of the power of the injected light
[21]. There are two typical threshold values: Pth2 is 1.7 mW and Pth1 is 1.6 mW

Based on the above, we have designed a comparator as shown in Fig. 1(c), where the
sampled chaotic pulses and a CW light with the same wavelength as the sampled chaotic
pulses are simultaneously injected into a λ/4DFB. The bandpass filter (BPF2) removes the
amplified injection light and transmits only the lasing light of the λ/4DFB. When the sampled
chaotic pulse power is above the Pth2, the lasing light output time-train will have a low power
level, which represents “0”, and otherwise, represents “1”.
2.4 Post-processing of exclusive-or (XOR)
After the above operations, a random number sequence with a rate corresponding to the
frequency of the control clock in all-optical sampler, has been generated. But it contains an
unwanted bias: nonuniform ratio of 0 and 1. To eliminate the bias, the random number
sequence need to be exclusive-or processed by an all-optical XOR gate, as shown in Fig. 3.

Fig. 3. Schematic diagram of the all-optical XOR gate. RNG, random number generator;
EDFA, erbium-doped fiber amplifier; WDM, WDM coupler; 50/50, 50/50 coupler; HNLF,
highly nonlinear fiber; BPF, bandpass filter; DFB, single-mode distributed-feedback laser;
CW, continuous-wave light.

#130680 - $15.00 USD Received 25 Jun 2010; revised 19 Aug 2010; accepted 23 Aug 2010; published 9 Sep 2010
(C) 2010 OSA 13 September 2010 / Vol. 18, No. 19 / OPTICS EXPRESS 20364
 The configuration of the all-optical XOR gate is based on a Mach-Zehnder interferometer
with an identical HNLF in each arm [22]. A beam of continuous-wave (CW) light is split by a
50/50 coupler into two arms as probe light, and the output of two independent RNGs are
respectively amplified by two EDFAs and launched into arm 1 and arm 2 as control light,
through WDM couplers (WDM). The control light induces the phase shift of the probe light
due to the XPM in HNLF. After that, the probe light is finally exported via another 50/50
coupler. A BPF is utilized to remove the control light and only transmit the probe light. The
interaction between the random number sequence and the CW light in HNLF is numerically
simulated according to Eq. (3).
The output power of probe light can be expressed as below:
1 '
P 'out = P in [1 − cos(Φarm1 − Φarm2 )], (5)
2
where P’in is the half power of the CW light. Φarm1 and Φarm2 are defined as the phase shift
induced by control lights, respectively, which are in proportion with the power of the input
random number signals (control lights). Similar with the above mentioned all-optical sampler,
when the signal is “1” level, the phase of the probe light has a π radian phase-shift. However,
when the signal is “0” level, the phase of the probe light keeps invariable. Thus, the all-optical
XOR function can be realized and accordingly the single random bit sequence with better
randomness can be obtained. Adopted parameters in the simulation can be found in Section 3.
The truth table is shown in Table 1, where signal 1 and signal 2 are corresponding to two
random number signals in arm 1 and arm 2, respectively.
Table 1. The truth table of all-optical XOR gate
Signal 1 Signal 2 Φarm1-Φarm2 XOR
0 0 0−0 0
0 1 0 −π 1
1 0 π −0 1
1 1 π −π 0

3. Simulation results and randomness tests

Figure 4 is the power spectrum of the generated UWB chaotic laser. The dash line is
corresponding to the bandwidth of UWB chaotic laser about 10.5GHz. A time sequence of the
UWB chaotic laser, from 0 to 2 ns, is given in Fig. 5(a). The UWB chaotic laser is operating
at wavelength λ1, 1543nm.

#130680 - $15.00 USD Received 25 Jun 2010; revised 19 Aug 2010; accepted 23 Aug 2010; published 9 Sep 2010
(C) 2010 OSA 13 September 2010 / Vol. 18, No. 19 / OPTICS EXPRESS 20365
 Fig. 4. Power spectrum of the generated UWB chaotic laser. The dash-line is corresponding to
the bandwidth of UWB chaotic laser about 10.5GHz.

In the simulation on the all-optical sampler, the length of the HNLF was 50 m and
nonlinear coefficient was 20 × 10−3 W−1m−1. The sampling clock pulse sequence generated by
the mode-locked laser operating at wavelength λ2, 1550 nm is shown in Fig. 5(b). The pulse is
in the format of Gauss, whose pulse width is 20 ps, peak power is 1 W and frequency is 10
GHz which determine the sampling rate. Figure 5(c) is a sampled chaotic laser pulse train at
the output port of Sagnac loop via the filter (BPF1). Its mean power is 1.45 mW by
calculating.

Fig. 5. Temporal waveforms: (a) the output of UWB chaotic laser (b) sampling clock.(c) the
output of all-optical sampler.

Figure 6 is the output waveform of the all-optical comparator. In simulations, the λ/4DFB
was adjusted so that it worked under the condition shown in Fig. 2. From the Fig. 2, we can
see that the Pth2 is 1.7 mW and Pth1 is 1.6 mW. Thus the width of the hysteresis is 0.1 mw,
which is smaller than the mean power 1.45mW of the sampled chaotic laser. The power of the
injected CW light was set to 0.25 mW, with the same wavelength λ1 as the UWB chaotic
laser. The wavelength λ1 was outside the stopband of the grating and different from the lasing
wavelength of λ/4DFB, 1553nm. In this way, the sum of the CW light power and the mean
power of sampled chaotic pulses is equal to the threshold Pth2. Thus, when the sampled

#130680 - $15.00 USD Received 25 Jun 2010; revised 19 Aug 2010; accepted 23 Aug 2010; published 9 Sep 2010
(C) 2010 OSA 13 September 2010 / Vol. 18, No. 19 / OPTICS EXPRESS 20366
chaotic pulse power is above the Pth2, the lasing light output would locate at the “off ” state,
and time-train will appear a “hollow”, which represents “0”. Otherwise, it will have no or
smaller “hollow”, which represent “1”, as shown in Fig. 6. The extinction ratio between
“zeros” and “ones” is as high as 30 dB. Note that every bit occupies a duration time of 100ps.
However, the duty ratio of “zeros” has tiny difference that is induced by the existence of the
hysteresis curve width.

Fig. 6. Raw random bit sequence generated by the all-optical RNG.

Figure 7 is an output waveform of the all-optical XOR gate. In the simulation, the CW
light power was about 1 mW, and two uncorrelated random signals from different all-optical
RNGS were amplified by different EDFAs respectively so that their “1” level was around 1
W. And both of the HNLF were 50 m long, whose nonlinear coefficient was 20 × 10−3
W−1m−1. From Fig. 7, we can see clearly that the random bit sequence is in the format of
return-to-zero (RZ), with a rate of 10 Gbit/s corresponding to the frequency 10 GHz of the
sampling optical clock pulses in all-optical sampler.

Fig. 7. Output signal of all-optical XOR gate: all-optical random number sequence.

To evaluate the statistical randomness of the single random bit sequence, we used the
standard statistical test suite for random number generators provided by the National Institute
of Standard Technology (NIST) [23]. The tests were performed using 1,000 instances of

#130680 - $15.00 USD Received 25 Jun 2010; revised 19 Aug 2010; accepted 23 Aug 2010; published 9 Sep 2010
(C) 2010 OSA 13 September 2010 / Vol. 18, No. 19 / OPTICS EXPRESS 20367
1Mbit sequences. And the test results show that bit sequences obtained by our method pass all
of the NIST tests. Typical results of the NIST tests are shown in Table 2.
Table 2. Results of NIST statistical test suite. Using 1000 samples of 1 Mbits data and
significance level α = 0.01, for “Success”, the P-value (uniformity of p-values) should be
larger than 0.0001 and the proportion should be greater than 0.9805608. As advised by
NIST, the Fast Fourier Transform test is disregarded
STATISTICAL TEST P-VALUE Proportion RESULT
Frequency 0.470294 0.999 success
Block frequency 0.043534 0.998 success
Cumulative sums 0.053110 0.999 success
Runs 0.265361 0.999 success
Longest-run 0.062602 0.987 success
Rank 0.674793 0.997 success
Non-periodic templates 0.016624 0.995 success
Overlapping templates 0.404101 0.999 success
Universal 0.279316 0.994 success
Approximate 0.524346 0.996 success
Random excursions 0.127385 0.994 success
Randomexcursions variant 0.123051 0.996 success
Serial 0.710993 0.989 success
Linear complexity 0.521757 0.993 success

4. Discussions
The generation rate of the proposed all-optical RNG is only limited by the bandwidth of UWB
chaotic laser. The all-optical sampler and all-optical XOR gate are both based on the cross
phase modulation of the HNLF. The Kerr nonlinearity of silica is as fast as a few femto
seconds [17], which translate into a few hundred terahertz bandwidth. That indicates the all-
optical sampler and XOR gate could operate potentially at much higher rates than 10 Gbit/s.
The all-optical comparator is based on the flip-flop proposed by Huybrechts. The rising time
of the flip-flop can reach 40 ps in experiment and even 10 ps in theory [24], which
corresponds to a bandwidth larger than 30 GHz. Thus, these three components will not limit
the maximum generation rate of random number generator. With the 10.5 GHz chaotic laser,
the obtained maximum rate of the random numbers generation was 10 Gbit/s in our scheme.
Sequences generated at higher rates did not pass the NIST statistical tests. We confirm that
faster generation rates can be achieved through further enhancing the bandwidth of chaotic
laser.
The bias of random numbers is induced mainly by the weak periodicity of UWB chaotic
laser and the threshold of all-optical comparator. Firstly, the weak periodicity is caused by the
external cavity feedback of the slave laser, which can get improved by some methods, such as
increasing the cavity length to extremely long feedback time, reducing the feedback strength,
and introducing feedback from multiple external cavities or a single external cavity with a
changing length of cavity. Secondly, the selection principle of an appropriate threshold of all-
optical comparator is to get a high quality output of random numbers with slight bias between
“0” and “1”. The appropriate threshold is located around the mean power of the chaotic pulses
train. The number of “0” in the random bits will greatly increase when the threshold value is
set to a bigger one, and vice versa. Thus, to set an appropriate threshold of all-optical
comparator, we must calculate the very accurate average power of the sampled pulses.
However, it is very difficult, because this calculation needs a large number of data to get an
absolutely exact value. We can only adjust the power of holding CW light or the output power
of the UWB chaotic laser to calibrate it in some degree. These are also the reason why a post-
processing of XOR is applied to wash out the bias.
In addition, the finally obtained random bit sequence exist tiny jitters as shown in Fig. 7,
which essentially is induced by two factors. One is that the rising times of the chaotic pulses
in Fig. 5(c) have small fluctuation in time. The other is that the bistability curve has a width.

#130680 - $15.00 USD Received 25 Jun 2010; revised 19 Aug 2010; accepted 23 Aug 2010; published 9 Sep 2010
(C) 2010 OSA 13 September 2010 / Vol. 18, No. 19 / OPTICS EXPRESS 20368
 5. Conclusions
In conclusion, we have proposed and demonstrated a 10Gbit/s all-optical RNG. It can
overcome the bottleneck of electronic signal processing and be compatible with the data in
optical communications directly. We confirm the increasing maturity of all-optical
components must provide tremendous convenience for the actual implementation of the all-
optical RNG in the near future.
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge Koen Huybrechts from Ghent University for providing the data
about the bistability. This work is supported partially by the Key Program of National Natural
Science Foundation of China under grant 60927007 and in part by the open subject of the
State Key Laboratory of Quantum Optics and Quantum Optics devices of China under grant
200903.

#130680 - $15.00 USD Received 25 Jun 2010; revised 19 Aug 2010; accepted 23 Aug 2010; published 9 Sep 2010
(C) 2010 OSA 13 September 2010 / Vol. 18, No. 19 / OPTICS EXPRESS 20369

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