As advanced physical cloning and cyber-extraction techniques proliferate, achieving absolute hardware-level information security has become a paramount global challenge. Conventional architectures systems are fundamentally vulnerable because deterministic memory and cryptographic hardware are physically decoupled, exposing sensitive data to interception. While physical unclonable functions (PUFs) offer robust authentication, integrating them with high-density data writing within a unified nanoscale medium remains elusive. Here, we present an intrinsically secure all-in-one architecture that inextricably fuses high-dimensional data encoding with multiscale physical encryption within single nanodiamonds (NDs). Through precise focused-electron-beam irradiation, we achieve single-nanoparticle defect engineering, enabling deterministic base-36 data writing within individual NDs. Crucially, this customized memory layer is permanently locked within the medium's inherent stochasticity, combining macroscopic spatial PUFs with strictly irreproducible atomic-scale quantum fingerprints extracted via optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR). By seamlessly embedding deterministic memory into an unclonable physical environment, our approach intrinsically eliminates the vulnerabilities of separated hardware, providing an unconditionally secure solid-state foundation for tamper-proof memory chips, zero-trust networks and next-generation data vaults.
As advanced physical cloning and cyber-extraction techniques proliferate, achieving absolute hardware-level information security has become a paramount global challenge. Conventional architectures systems are fundamentally vulnerable because deterministic memory and cryptographic hardware are physically decoupled, exposing sensitive data to interception. While physical unclonable functions (PUFs) offer robust authentication, integrating them with high-density data writing within a unified nanoscale medium remains elusive. Here, we present an intrinsically secure all-in-one architecture that inextricably fuses high-dimensional data encoding with multiscale physical encryption within single nanodiamonds (NDs). Through precise focused-electron-beam irradiation, we achieve single-nanoparticle defect engineering, enabling deterministic base-36 data writing within individual NDs. Crucially, this customized memory layer is permanently locked within the medium's inherent stochasticity, combining macroscopic spatial PUFs with strictly irreproducible atomic-scale quantum fingerprints extracted via optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR). By seamlessly embedding deterministic memory into an unclonable physical environment, our approach intrinsically eliminates the vulnerabilities of separated hardware, providing an unconditionally secure solid-state foundation for tamper-proof memory chips, zero-trust networks and next-generation data vaults.
The rapid development of the Internet of Things and the digital information era has intensified the demand for secure hardware and information systems. Physical unclonable functions (PUFs) provide a hardware-based approach by exploiting fabrication-induced randomness to generate unique, unclonable labels. Concurrently, advances in deterministic nanofabrication increasingly challenge the unclonability of conventional micro- and nanoscale PUFs, motivating the exploration of more fundamental sources of physical randomness. Here, we demonstrate an atomic-scale PUF architecture that leverages intrinsic randomness in solids through lattice and defect engineering. The resulting PUFs exhibit both three-dimensional spatial variability and atomic-scale configurational complexity, yielding extraordinary encoding space and uniqueness. For a characteristic feature size of 1 nanometer, the Shannon entropy is estimated at 17.49, underscoring the encoding capacity. Moreover, the embedded structure ensures intrinsic unclonability and robustness against environmental perturbations. These results establish atomic-scale PUFs as a fundamentally secure and scalable platform for next-generation hardware and information security.
ABSTRACT Secure encryption lies at the heart of data protection across virtually every sector of modern society. Physical unclonable functions (PUFs) provide an indispensable root of trust for ensuring this security. However, existing PUFs remain limited by two key constraints: a trade‐off between cryptographic capacity and physical footprint, and architectural vulnerabilities to both key‐centric interception and machine‐learning (ML) cloning attacks. Here, we introduce a hardware‐intrinsic, coherent‐spin‐mediated encryption architecture based on nanodiamonds (NDs) containing nitrogen‐vacancy (NV) centers. Spectral multiplexing of spin‐resonance channels directly transduces microwave‐programmed plaintext into the frequency and phase of coherent Rabi oscillations, yielding hardware‐specific temporal waveforms as physical ciphertext. Operating within a sub‐wavelength footprint, this process supports over 10 45 addressable encryption states, corresponding to an encoding density of approximately 721 bits µm – 2 , which represents the highest value reported for a physical‐security platform. The coherent quantum evolution of the NV spin ensembles, together with ND‐specific disorder, produces a complex, channel‐dependent plaintext‐to‐waveform transformation that proved difficult for the evaluated ML models to reconstruct, with predictive accuracy approaching the random‐guessing baseline. These results establish a new encryption paradigm, delivering an ultra‐dense, intrinsically unclonable encryption foundation for next‐generation secure devices.
Abstract Conventionally, information has been processed and conceptualized within a digital binary paradigm, wherein '0' and '1' are dictated by voltage thresholds and the discrete presence of electrons or currents. However, shifting the fundamental unit of information from digital bits to continuous wave-states enables the representation and utilization of an infinite spectrum of configurations inherent in wave dynamics. Crucially, waves exhibit the physical characteristic of mutual interference—a natural mechanism of interaction among distinct informational waves. This enables the scientific exploitation of a multi-faceted harmony and operational freedom of information that fundamentally resonates with the physical realities of inter-informational relationships. This paper theoretically formulates a novel paradigm for wave computing and lab-grown diamond (LGD) memory networks, designed to fundamentally transcend the intrinsic physical limitations, capacity thresholds, and scaling challenges of conventional digital computing and transistor-based semiconductor and quantum computing architectures. It establishes a model that substantiates this paradigm as a rigorous mathematical standard. The proposed Quantum Wave Computing (QWC) and Quantum Wave Memory (QWM) framework seeks to completely replace discrete electrical charge operations and unstable, cryogenic quantum bits with continuous, deterministic spin-wave interactions within a room-temperature LGD crystal lattice. By exploiting the harmonic wave dynamics inside a 0.356 nm diamond lattice, this integrated hardware-software architecture is an attempt to directly resolve the critical bottlenecks of the memory wall, the power wall, and thermal runaway. The system operates as a deterministic spatial wave computer that executes multi-modal data compression, complex logical mapping, and non-volatile data retention entirely within the electromagnetic resonance spectrum at the speed of light. Structurally, the architecture utilizes three-dimensional tensor addressing via time-varying physical address functions, achieving sub-nanosecond physical addressing and near-zero operational power while aiming for linear scaling expansion. Furthermore, this paper implements the 5W1H wave-filtering protocol, which enables the instantaneous physical extraction of high-probability conventional responses and low-probability creative alternative solutions through engineered constructive and destructive interference spaces. To protect this volatile cryptographic domain against advanced hardware replication and coercive exploitation, a multi-stage on-chip quantum biometrics pipeline is introduced. This framework physically synchronizes user bio-impedance vectors with inherent carbon-vacancy physical unclonable function (PUF) spectrums, utilizing Dirac delta integrations, density matrix partial traces, and limbic system-linked spin relaxation (T_1) gating to control gate opening and forced lockdowns. Concurrently, by factoring in the logographic and ideographic properties of Chinese characters, the character-phoneme composition architecture presented herein could offer a novel alternative for character-based computing within the Sinosphere. Future engineering deployments will focus on fabricating localized nano-electrode array cross-points to empirically map the thermodynamic stability limits and scaling attributes of the physical diamond lattice. Ultimately, this comprehensive theoretical framework serves as a foundational blueprint for next-generation artificial intelligence infrastructure and massive system simulations. It urges subsequent researchers to empirically validate and physically demonstrate this proposed paradigm across wave computing, quantum biometrics, and the structural formation theory of Chinese characters, thereby transcending these paradigms to catalyze advanced scientific and technological developments and contribute to the ecosystem of shared human knowledge.
Quantum dots (QDs) have garnered significant attention for their unique size-dependent optical and electronic properties, enabling their widespread use in applications ranging from high-efficiency photovoltaics and light-emitting diodes to biomedical imaging and quantum computing. Their tunable emission, high photo-stability, and ease of surface modification make them ideal candidates for precision nanotechnology applications. In this work, we explore a novel and rapidly emerging application of QDs in hardware security through the development of Quantum Dot-based Physical Unclonable Functions (QD-PUFs). Unlike conventional security paradigms, QD-PUFs leverage the intrinsic physical randomness of QD-based nanostructures to generate challenge-response pairs with superior uniqueness, reliability, and robustness. We review the integration of QDs into PUFs, beginning with their material properties and extending to entropy sources arising from synthesis and fabrication, surface and encapsulation effects. A comparative analysis of different readout mechanisms and related applications underscores the unique encoding capacity and security potential of QD-based systems. By demonstrating their feasibility for scalable, high-security applications, this study underscores the transformative impact of QDs in next-generation authentication and anti-counterfeiting technologies.
Quantum Physically Unclonable Functions (QPUFs) are emerging hardware primitives that harness inherent quantum principle to produce device-specific challenge–response behavior. By embedding quantum-mechanical "fingerprints" into devices, QPUFs can derive unique cryptographic keys and identities, yielding robust hardware roots of trust. This paper systematically reviews QPUF principles, architectures, and security properties, and explores their integration into next-generation networking paradigms with industrial demonstrations. We detail how QPUFs can enable secure device authentication, key generation across quantum communication links, 6G wireless, IoT/edge deployments emphasizing practical implementation strategies and system integration in future networks along with technical challenges. Through this comprehensive analysis, we highlight the transformative potential of QPUFs in delivering hardware-rooted, information-theoretic security for interconnected networks, and outline directions for further research.
Emerging brain-computer interfaces (BCIs), electroceutical implants, and continuous physiological monitoring systems rely on invasive metallic microelectrodes or classical bio-potential sensors. These technologies suffer from three fatal limitations: (1) biological foreign-body responses, glial scarring, and neuro-inflammatory degradation that destroy long-term signal fidelity; (2) fundamental electrophysiological noise floors (≈ 1–10 µV/√Hz) that obscure sub-cellular synaptic action potentials and picotesla biomagnetic fields; and (3) pervasive data-harvesting vulnerabilities, wherein raw neurological telemetry and somatic signatures are transmitted across unencrypted wireless links, exposing cognitive privacy and biometric identity to commercial artificial intelligence harvesting and unauthorized foundation-model distillation. This monograph establishes the theoretical formulation, physical-layer engineering, and cryptographic governance architecture for Bio-Integrated Quantum Diamond Sensors (BQDS): (1) We model optically detected magnetic resonance (ODMR) in nitrogen-vacancy (NV^-) centers embedded in surface-functionalized nanodiamonds and flexible lithium niobate (LiNbO3) phononic substrates, achieving a magnetic sensitivity floor of η_B ≤ 8.5 pT/√Hz at physiological temperature (T ≈ 310 K); (2) We derive non-Markovian vibronic shielding equations demonstrating that bio-compatible acoustic superlattices filter out destructive thermal phonon modes, extending ground-state electron spin coherence to T_2^* ≥ 1.45 µs and spin-lattice relaxation to T_1 ≥ 4.8 ms; (3) We construct the Somatic Cryptographic Interlock (SCI), which transduces chaotic micro-variations in cardiac intervals and axonal firing sequences directly into true quantum random bitstreams (H_∞ ≥ 0.992 bits/bit), generating on-chip zero-knowledge authentication proofs without disclosing raw physiological waveforms; and (4) We formulate an autonomous bio-hardware circuit breaker that optically decouples wireless transceivers in under 12 ns upon detecting unauthorized interrogation or electromagnetic probing. We prove that this architecture guarantees cognitive privacy under GDPR Article 9 while enforcing director fiduciary obligations under Delaware Caremark corporate governance.