Light, matter, and quantum randomness generation: A relativistic quantum information perspective

TL;DR

This paper investigates how quantum randomness generated from atomic measurements can be compromised by electromagnetic field interactions, highlighting vulnerabilities in realistic light-matter systems.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of light-atom interactions without common approximations, revealing potential security issues in quantum randomness protocols.

Findings

Adversaries with access to the electromagnetic field can attack atomic randomness.

Ground state preparation is not always the safest for randomness generation.

Full 3+1D analysis shows differences from scalar approximation results.

Abstract

We study how quantum randomness generation based on unbiased measurements on a hydrogen-like atom can get compromised by virtue of the unavoidable coupling of the atom with the electromagnetic field. Concretely, we show that an adversary with access to the quantum EM field, but not the atom, can perform an attack on the randomness of a set of unbiased quantum measurements. We analyze the light-atom interaction in 3+1 dimensions with no single-mode or rotating-wave approximations. In our study, we also take into account the non-pointlike nature of the atom and the exchanges of angular momentum between atom and field and compare with previous results obtained under scalar approximations. We show that preparing the atom in the ground state in the presence of no field excitations is, in general, not the safest state to generate randomness in atomic systems (such as trapped ions or optical lattices).