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 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.
Abstract A physical unclonable function (PUF) device leverages manufacturing randomness to generate a unique fingerprint for secure authentication, encryption, and counterfeit prevention. Optical PUFs (OPUFs) have gained prominence due to their strong security, light‐based challenge‐response mechanisms, and potential for quantum‐secure encryption. These devices have promising applications for hardware security, authentication, cryptographic key generation, and anti‐counterfeiting measures across multiple industries. This review enlightens the diverse material platforms used for OPUFs, ranging from fiber optics and liquid crystals to advanced semiconductor nanocrystals and plasmonic metasurfaces, each offering distinct optical characteristics that impact security strength. While no single material system dominates the field, hybrid and multi‐model approaches integrating low‐dimensional materials are being explored to enhance reliability and scalability. Finally, the challenges and future perspectives are outlined, including adaptive OPUFs architectures, utilizing artificial intelligence (AI) for challenge‐response generation, and their integration into quantum communication networks, highlighting how next‐generation semiconductor materials can further advance OPUFs technologies.
With the rapid expansion of digital communication and the Internet of Things (IoT), hardware-level security and anti-counterfeiting technologies have become increasingly important. Traditional cryptographic systems depend on mathematically generated keys, which are vulnerable to duplication and physical attacks. In contrast, Physical Unclonable Functions (PUFs) utilize inherent physical randomness to produce unique, unpredictable responses, offering a hardware root of trust for secure authentication. Among various PUF implementations, optical PUFs (O-PUFs) have attracted attention due to their high entropy density, non-contact readout, and immunity to electromagnetic interference. These systems exploit light–matter interactions, such as scattering, reflection, and emission to generate random optical fingerprints. In recent years, photoluminescent (PL) materials have emerged as promising candidates for constructing material-based optical PUFs. Their intrinsic emission randomness, strong optical signals, and tunable luminescence enable secure encoding without complex nanofabrication. Materials such as perovskite quantum dots and lanthanide-based metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) combine high photoluminescence efficiency, environmental stability, and low-cost processability, making them ideal for scalable optical authentication applications. This thesis explores the development and performance evaluation of photoluminescent based PUFs for optical security and anti-counterfeiting. Three types of luminescent materials, namely perovskite quantum dots, lanthanide-based MOFs, and intermolecular charge-transfer (CT) complexes are qualitatively analyzed as potential optical PUF platforms. A particular focus is placed on the statistical evaluation of Terbium-based MOFs (Tb-MOFs) and CT complexes. For Tb-MOFs, two entropy sources are examined: the spatial distribution of MOF microstructures and the randomness in PL intensity. Similarly, CT complexes are evaluated based on their disordered geometric topology. Standardized image processing, including optical imaging, grayscale conversion, and binarization, is employed to extract PUF features. Quantitative metrics such as uniqueness, reliability, and encoding capacity are analyzed. The results demonstrate that both Tb-MOF and CT-based systems achieve high encoding capacity and stable reproducibility within a sub-millimeter scale. This study validates the feasibility of luminescent materials as robust optical PUFs and provides a foundation for scalable, photostable, and intelligent optical authentication systems
Unique identification of optical devices is important for anti-counterfeiting. Physical unclonable functions (PUFs), which use random physical characteristics for authentication, are advantageous over existing optical solutions, such as holograms, due to the inherent asymmetry in their fabrication and reproduction complexity. However, whilst unique, PUFs are potentially vulnerable to replication and simulation. Here we introduce an additional benefit of a small modification to an established model of nanoparticle PUFs by using a second measurement parameter to verify their authenticity. A randomly deposited array of quantum dots is encapsulated in a transparent polymer, forming a tag. Photoluminescence is measured as a function of excitation power to assess uniqueness as well as the intrinsic nonlinear response of the quantum material. This captures a fingerprint, which is non-trivial to clone or simulate. To demonstrate this concept practically, we show that these tags can be read using an unmodified smartphone, with its built-in flash for excitation. This development over constellation-style optical PUFs paves the way for more secure, facile authentication of devices without requiring complex fabrication or characterisation techniques.
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.
With the accelerating expansion of connectivity, the need for advanced cyber-physical security technologies that bridge the digital and physical worlds is becoming more crucial than ever. Physically unclonable functions (PUFs) leveraging nanotechnologies and photonic technologies are emerging as practical and deployable hardware security solutions that go beyond software-based hardware security. Optics- and photonics-based PUFs (often referred to as optical PUFs) offer a range of characteristics beneficial to multiplex strategies that incorporate multilevel and multimodal approaches, based on their fundamental optical and photonic properties. PUFs are categorized as multilevel when multiple responses are generated from a single type of challenge, such as a light source or optical tool. In contrast, they are classified as multimodal when multiple responses are created from various types of challenges involving a combination of different light sources and optical tools. This review highlights recent advances and progress in integrating emerging materials, detection tools, authentication methods, imaging techniques, reconfigurability, and unclonability, which are essential for advancing next-generation multiplex PUFs. To facilitate real-world applications and to support deployment in real-world senarios, we also discuss existing limitations in multiplex optical PUFs and explore potential strategies to overcome such challenges, supporting our increasingly hyperconnected society.
Quantum Physical Unclonable Functions (QPUFs) offer a physically grounded approach to secure authentication, extending the capabilities of classical PUFs. This review covers their theoretical foundations and key implementation challenges—such as quantum memories and Haar‐randomness—, and distinguishes QPUFs from Quantum Readout PUFs (QR‐PUFs), more experimentally accessible yet less robust against quantum‐capable adversaries. A co‐citation‐based selection method is employed to trace the evolution of QPUF architectures, from early QR‐PUFs to more recent Hybrid PUFs (HPUFs). This method further supports a discussion on the role of information‐theoretic analysis in mitigating inconsistencies in QPUF responses, underscoring the deep connection between secret‐key generation and authentication. Despite notable advances, achieving practical and robust QPUF‐based authentication remains an open challenge.