Smartphone-based Fingerprint Extraction from Quantum Dot Optical Physically Unclonable Functions

Physically Unclonable Functions are physical systems that can be interrogated in such a way that they exhibit some unique and readable response due to properties intrinsic to the system, allowing for their use as security devices for authentication. That quantum dots emit light at fine-tunable wavelengths as a non-linear response to stimulation via incident light allows us to make use of them in PUF devices. We use CuInS/ZnS colloidal quantum dots deposited on a surface in order to create a unique, impossible to forge optical emission pattern, and capture its response to incident light to use as source information for fingerprint extraction. Using only a smartphone to challenge the quantum dot PUF with its built-in flash, and using its built-in camera to capture the emission pattern, we successfully demonstrate the extraction of fingerprints from quantum dot PUFs via the use of two algorithms.