Generating random numbers securely and at a high rate is important for information technology. Integrated photonics could potentially be used to create mass-manufactured quantum random number generators. However, the development of robust and scalable approaches that are compatible with industrial deployment is challenging. Here, we report a fast quantum random number generator based on a photonic integrated circuit directly embedded on an electronic platform. We manufacture eight boards, which harvest randomness from an optical entropy core and process and distribute it in real time. We benchmark performance over a week of continuous gigahertz operation. We deploy our quantum random number generator in a quantum key distribution system and, despite operating in an uncontrolled environment, the physical randomness features minimal variations over 2.9 million histograms collected over 38 days. We also use a security model with our quantum random number generator to adjust the rate of the randomness content generated and demonstrate secure generation at 2 Gbit s⁻¹.

安全且高速地生成随机数对于信息技术非常重要。集成光子学有可能用于制造大规模制造的量子随机数发生器。然而，开发与工业部署兼容的稳健且可扩展的方法具有挑战性。在这里，我们报告了一种基于直接嵌入电子平台的光子集成电路的快速量子随机数生成器。我们制造了八块板，它们从光学熵核心中获取随机性，并实时处理和分发它。我们对连续千兆赫运行一周的性能进行了基准测试。我们在量子密钥分配系统中部署了量子随机数生成器，尽管在不受控制的环境中运行，但物理随机性的特点是在 38 天内收集的 290 万个直方图上的变化最小。我们还使用带有量子随机数生成器的安全模型来调整随机内容生成的速率，并演示 2 Gbit s ^-1的安全生成。