2013/05/16 by Roarke Horstmeyer, Horstmeyer, Roarke, Benjamin Judkewitz +8 · 1 voice · 1 citation
Computer Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Biometric Identification and Security #Random lasers and scattering media #User Authentication and Security Systems #cs.CR #physics.optics
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1305.3886
6 pages, 4 figures
arxiv published 2013/05/16 · arxiv created 2013/11/26 · arxiv updated 2013/11/26
We describe an encrypted communication principle that can form a perfectly secure link between two parties without electronically saving either of their keys. Instead, cryptographic key bits are kept safe within the unique mesoscopic randomness of two volumetric scattering materials. We demonstrate how a shared set of patterned optical probes can generate 10 gigabits of statistically verified randomness between a pair of unique 2 cubic millimeter scattering objects. This shared randomness is used to facilitate information-theoretically secure communication following a modified one-time pad protocol. Benefits of volumetric physical storage over electronic memory include the inability to probe, duplicate or selectively reset any random bits without fundamentally altering the entire key space. Beyond the demonstrated communication scheme, our ability to securely couple the randomness contained within two unique physical objects may help strengthen the hardware for a large class of cryptographic protocols, which is currently a critically weak link in the security pipeline of our increasingly mobile communication culture.