Granular Memristor-Driven Photonic True Random Number Generation

Abstract An encryption key is one of the most important tools for securing long-range communication from eavesdropping. Random numbers derived from an inherently stochastic system offer a convenient way to generate secure keys. Most existing solutions rely on electronic components to generate random numbers, while most modern long-range communications are based on optics. Existing solutions thus involve complicated circuitry to extract bits from the physical entropy source and then encode them into light. We report an Au/AgBr-based stochastic granular memristor connected with a light-emitting diode (LED) as a true random number generator for wireless secure long-range communication. This simple device can generate 128-bit encryption keys at 10 kbits/s speed without any postprocessing. The LED enabled wireless transmission of the key. The randomness of the source was also quantified through NIST randomness tests.