Certified randomness using a trapped-ion quantum processor
Although quantum computers can perform a wide range of practically important tasks beyond the abilities of classical computers<sup>1,2</sup>, realizing this potential remains a challenge. An example is to use an untrusted remote device to generate random bits that can be certified to contain a certain amount of entropy<sup>3</sup>. Certified randomness has many applications but is impossible to achieve solely by classical computation. Here we demonstrate the generation of certifiably random bits using the 56-qubit Quantinuum H2-1 trapped-ion quantum computer accessed over the Internet. Our protocol leverages the classical hardness of recent random circuit sampling demonstrations<sup>4,5</sup>: a client generates quantum 'challenge' circuits using a small randomness seed, sends them to an untrusted quantum server to execute and verifies the results of the server. We analyse the security of our protocol against a restricted class of realistic near-term adversaries. Using classical verification with measured combined sustained performance of 1.1 × 10<sup>18</sup> floating-point operations per second across multiple supercomputers, we certify 71,313 bits of entropy under this restricted adversary and additional assumptions. Our results demonstrate a step towards the practical applicability of present-day quantum computers.
Authors
- Travis S. Humble (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9449-0498)
- Danylo Lykov (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2979-2633)
- Yuri Alexeev (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5066-2254)
- Joan Dreiling (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9226-203X)
- Shaltiel Eloul
- Atithi Acharya (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8840-3028)
- Brian Neyenhuis (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1513-164X)
- Scott Aaronson
- Matthew DeCross (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9459-8140)
- Wen Yu Kon (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8174-6004)
- Shouvanik Chakrabarti (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9159-4881)
- Peter Siegfried (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0145-2899)
- N. R. Erickson
- Jeffrey Larson (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9924-2082)
- Florian J. Curchod (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3256-038X)
- David Hayes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8412-0047)
- Pradeep Niroula (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8941-7774)
- Minzhao Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6184-8214)
- Michael Foss‐Feig (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7429-0157)
- Marco Pistoia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9002-1128)
- Niraj Kumar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3037-1083)
- Ruslan Shaydulin (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8657-2848)
- J. Walker (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0009-8481-1057)
- Michael Mills (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2560-4129)
- Kaushik Chakraborty (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6425-0418)
- Omar Amer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9402-4892)
- C. B. Foltz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8933-2172)
- Steven A. Moses (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0009-0000-3162-4615)
- Enrique Cervero-Martín
- Charles Lim
- Shih-Han Hung (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3410-7466)
- K. Jordan Berg
Institutions
- Argonne National Laboratory (US)
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (US)
- JPMorgan Chase & Co (United States) (US)
- University of Chicago (US)
- Nvidia (United States) (US)
- Quantum Science Center (US)
- The University of Texas at Austin (US)
- National Taipei University (TW)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Nature
- Published
- 2025-03-26
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08737-1
- Citations
- 20
- Primary Topic
- Quantum Computing Algorithms and Architecture
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 49.62
Funders
- U.S. Department of Energy
- National Energy Research Scientific Computing Center
- Office of Science
- Advanced Scientific Computing Research
- Argonne National Laboratory
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory