Abstract

Authentication of people or objects using physical keys is insecure against secret duplication. Physical unclonable functions (PUF) are special physical keys that are assumed to be unclonable due to the large number of degrees of freedom in their manufacturing [1]. Opaque scattering media, such as white paint and teeth, comprise of millions of nanoparticles in a random arrangement. Under coherent light illumination, the multiple scattering from these nanoparticles gives rise to a complex interference resulting in a speckle pattern. The speckle pattern is seemingly random but highly sensitive to the exact position and size of the nanoparticles in the given piece of opaque scattering medium [2], thereby realizing an ideal optical PUF. These optical PUFs enabled applications such as quantum-secure authentication (QSA) and communication [3,4].

© 2017 IEEE