Random number generators are essential for applications in information security and numerical simulations. Most optical-chaos-based random number generators produce random bit sequences by offline post-processing with large optical components. We demonstrate a real-time hardware implementation of a fast physical random number generator with a photonic integrated circuit and a field programmable gate array (FPGA) electronic board. We generate 1-Tbit random bit sequences and evaluate their statistical randomness using NIST Special Publication 800-22 and TestU01. All of the BigCrush tests in TestU01 are passed using 410-Gbit random bit sequences. A maximum real-time generation rate of 21.1 Gb/s is achieved for random bit sequences in binary format stored in a computer, which can be directly used for applications involving secret keys in cryptography and random seeds in large-scale numerical simulations.

Synchronization properties of chaotic dynamics in two mutually coupled semiconductor lasers with optical feedback embedded in a photonic integrated circuit are investigated from the point of view of their dynamical content. A phenomenon in which the two lasers can show qualitatively different synchronization properties according to the frequency range of investigation and their nonlinear dynamics is identified and termed dynamics-dependent synchronization. In-phase synchronization is observed for original signals and antiphase synchronization is observed for low-pass filtered signals in the case where one of the lasers shows chaotic oscillations while the other laser exhibits low-frequency fluctuations dynamics. The experimental conditions causing the synchronization states to vary according to the considered frequency interval are studied and the key roles of asymmetric coupling strength and injection currents are clarified.