Physical unclonable functions on carbon fiber reinforced polymers using laser techniques

Abstract

We have successfully fabricated physical unclonable functions (PUF)s on carbon fiber reinforced polymers (CFRP) in the form of computer-generated holograms (CGH)s using an industrial friendly UV ns laser system. The topological randomness of the fiber network and laser absorption yield laser engraved CGH that are unique. The engraved CGH serve as PUFs and this is confirmed by the exceptionally low values of probability of cloning (POC), lower than 10−7, well below the commonly accepted threshold value of 10−5 in the literature. For the PUF evaluation we have developed a novel methodology that employs digital reconstruction of images of the engraved CGH obtained from low resolution cameras with moderate magnification.