A method of generating a random number that involves applying pulses of energy to amplify a quantum mechanical vacuum fluctuation to generate one or more macroscopic fields having one or more physical properties (e.g. phase or energy) that are random and measurable, and, measuring at least one of the physical properties to obtain a value for the physical property, the value of the physical property being a random number. Measuring the phase of a Stokes signal generated in a transient Raman scattering process is one way of generating the random number as the phase of the Stokes signal is random. This method can produce random numbers faster than prior art methods as the real numbers generated can be converted to binary to produce more than one random bit and the measurement process itself is faster permitting more rapid data collection rates and more rapid turn-on times.