Tensor Network-Encrypted Physical Anti-counterfeiting Passport for Digital Twin Authentication

ACS Appl Mater Interfaces. 2021 Dec 29;13(51):61536-61543. doi: 10.1021/acsami.1c18808. Epub 2021 Dec 5.

Abstract

The trend of digitalization has produced rapidly increasing data interaction and authentication demand in today's internet of things ecosystem. To face the challenge, we demonstrated a micro-scale label by direct laser writing to perform as a passport between the physical and digital worlds. On this label, the user information is encrypted into three-dimensional geometric structures by a tensor network and then authenticated through the decryption system based on computer vision. A two-step printing methodology is applied to code the randomly distributed fluorescence from doped quantum dots, which achieved physical unclonable functions (PUFs) of the passport. The 105 bits/mm2 data storage density enables abundant encrypted information from physical worlds, for example, the biometric data of human users. This passport guarantees the strong correlation between the user's privacy data and the PUF-assisted codes, successfully overcoming the illegal transfer of authentication information. Due to its ultra-high security level and convenience, the printed passport has enormous potential in future digital twin authentication anytime anywhere, including personal identity, valuable certificates, and car networking.

Keywords: authentication security; digital twin; direct laser writing; physical anti-counterfeiting; quantum dots; tensor network.