Practical quantum random number generator based on measuring the shot noise of vacuum states

The shot noise of vacuum states is a kind of quantum noise and is totally random. In this paper a nondeterministic random number generation scheme based on measuring the shot noise of vacuum states is presented and experimentally demonstrated. We use a homodyne detector to measure the shot noise of vacuum states. Considering that the frequency bandwidth of our detector is limited, we derive the optimal sampling rate so that sampling points have the least correlation with each other. We also choose a method to extract random numbers from sampling values, and prove that the influence of classical noise can be avoided with this method so that the detector does not have to be shot-noise limited. The random numbers generated with this scheme have passed ent and diehard tests.