Effects of Kerr nonlinearity in physical unclonable functions

TL;DR

This paper investigates how Kerr nonlinearity in optical media can enhance the robustness of physical unclonable functions against cloning, potentially improving cryptographic security.

Contribution

It demonstrates that nonlinear physical unclonable functions can be more resistant to cloning than linear ones, under specific conditions.

Findings

Nonlinear PUFs show increased robustness against cloning.

Kerr nonlinearity can be exploited to improve security.

Certain conditions favor nonlinear over linear PUFs.

Abstract

We address the question of whether the presence of Kerr nonlinearity in multiple-scattering optical media offers any advantage with respect to the design of physical unclonable functions. Our results suggest that under certain conditions, nonlinear physical unclonable functions can be more robust against the potential cloning of the medium, relative to their linear counterparts that have been exploited in the context of various cryptographic applications.