Methods, protocols, and apparatuses of quantum physical unclonable functions

1 . A method for secure authentication, comprising the steps of:

i) generating a plurality of entangled photons;

ii) transmitting each photon of said plurality of entangled photons to a corresponding one of at least a pair of devices, each device of said at least a pair of devices embodying a corresponding physical unclonable function having a known quantum correlation signature;

iii) recording a response from one device of said at least a pair of devices based on said corresponding physical unclonable function of said one device;

iv) recording a response from another device of said at least a pair of devices based on said corresponding physical unclonable function of said another device;

v) repeating steps i)-iv);

vi) calculating a verification pattern from responses recorded via the performance of steps iii) and iv), said recorded responses being announced publicly in accordance with the performance of this step;

vii) comparing said verification pattern with said known quantum correlation signature;

viii) authenticating if a similarity threshold between said verification pattern and said known quantum correlation signature is achieved based on said comparing step;

ix) encoding a confidential message into said recorded responses according to a publicly agreed protocol that comprises a finite number of swapping actions; and

x) decoding said confidential message from said recorded responses, wherein said decoding step is performed on said recorded responses by maximizing similarity with said verification pattern when said verification pattern is being calculated in accordance with the performance of step vi).

2 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of validating entanglement of said plurality of entangled photons.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein said validating step is performed, for verification purposes, by periodically diverting some entangled photons of said plurality of entangled photons away from said at least a pair of devices.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said known quantum correlation signature is public knowledge.

5 . The method of claim 4 , wherein said known quantum correlation signature is established by the manufacturer of said at least a pair of devices.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein step v) is performed in a public channel.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said quantum correlation signature is based on quantum complementary variables after said plurality of entangled photons interact with optical chaos.

8 . The method of claim 7 , wherein said optical chaos is provided by physical unclonable function nanostructures of each device of said at least a pair of devices.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein said physical unclonable function nanostructures comprise chaotic light-transmission media.

10 . The method of claim 7 , wherein said quantum complementary variables are based on photon arrival time and/or carrier frequencies.

11 . The method of claim 7 , wherein said quantum correlation signature is defined based on intensity correlations of entangled photons in frequencies and/or arrival times.

12 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of continuously transmitting a reference signal to each device of said at least a pair of devices.

13 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said known quantum correlation signature is based on one or more of joint spectrum intensity, joint temporal intensity or joint spectral temporal intensity.

14 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising the step of selectively maintaining in confidence, for security purposes, at least some of said responses recorded via the performance of step iii) and/or step iv).

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said decoding step is performed by exhaustively trying all of said finite number of swapping actions.