Nanoscale hierarchical optical interactions for secure information

Abstract

There is increasing demand for novel physical security that can differentiate between real and false specific artifact that have been added to bank bills, certifications, and other vouchers. The most simple and effective method for improving the security level is to scale down the elemental structures so that they cannot be duplicated by attackers. While there is a paradox that the achieved fabrication resolution by a defender can also be realized by an attacker, further improvement in security is possible by the functional fusion of artifact metrics and nanophotonics. The fundamental advantages of this concept are the high-level clone resistance and individuality of nanoscale artifacts, which are based on the super-resolution fabrication and nanoscale hierarchical structure of optical near-field interactions, respectively. In this paper, the basis for the fabrication of nanoscale artifacts by utilizing random phenomena is described, and a quantitative evaluation of the security level is presented. An experimental demonstration using a nano-/macro-hierarchical hologram is presented to demonstrate the fundamental procedure for retrieving nanoscale features as hidden information. Finally, the concept and a simple demonstration of non-scanning probe microscopy are described as a practical application of the retrieval and authentication of nanoscale artifact metrics.