Highly Secure Nonlinear Optical PUFs
Abstract
Cybersecurity, authenticated or confidential communication, and unforgeable identification are of equal concern both to our civil society and in military applications. Currently prevailing techniques rest on the tacit assumption that all communication partners can safely and permanently store a secret key that remains unknown to adversaries. Unfortunately, various strategies for extracting such keys from electronic systems have been developed over the years. The novel, innovative primitive of Strong Physical Unclonable Functions (Strong PUFs) offers a seminal alternative in this situation: It empowers communicants to identify themselves to others without permanently storing digital keys in their systems, enabling certain forms of advanced, “keyfree” security. The straightforward and obvious realization of Strong PUFs by standard electronic circuits has turned out intricate, however: They typically cannot realize satisfactory levels of internal disorder, entropy, and complex interactions to resists attacks, as shown on various occasions in the past. This proposal therefore follows a distinct route to secure and practical Strong PUFs. We suggest special nanoscale materials and architectures for realizing highly secure, yet practical, integratable, and potentially miniaturizable optical Strong PUFs. Key to our approach is the employment of special substances, geometries, and excitation methods that induce a stable nonlinear optical behavior at small light intensities. When combined with a high level of complex, three-dimensional disorder and interaction, this will establish a new class of practical and highly secure Strong PUFs. Our research aims at opening the door for new, “keyfree” ways of secure identification, communication, and hardware protection. The proposed project combines the expertise of several groups with longstanding track records in nonlinear optics and PUFs for achieving this goal.
Document Details
- Document Type
- DoD Grant Award
- Publication Date
- Jan 21, 2022
- Source ID
- FA95502110039XX0
Entities
People
- Ulrich Rührmair
Organizations
- Air Force Office of Scientific Research
- Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München
- United States Air Force