Generation of Encryption Keys from Plasmonics
Abstract
The study of plasmon resonances has shown the possibility to produce complex
electromagnetic field patterns, with strong gradients and high confinement, superimposed with
interference patterns. These physical effects have open the experimental and theoretical way of
designing efficient systems in various new applications (sensors, imaging and burning biomedicine
applications, security. . . ) [1-3]. In this contribution, we introduce a new method to generate
encryption keys, from the computation of electromagnetic field produced through a plasmonic
device.
The proposed method is based on a classical computation of the interaction between light and
metallic nanomaterials. The computed field is the basis of the production scheme of encryption
keys. The cryptographic quality of such a key is related to the number of degrees of freedom of the
model and to the description of a resonant phenomenon, involving high sensitivity to numerous
parameters [4]. This system is also quantified in term of complexity within the information
theory.
Here, the key generator consists in an analytical model deduced from the Mie theory for spherical
metallic particle including a mesh postprocessing of the whole domain of computation, in order
to control spatial positions of the nodes where the field is computed, as well as the spatial
distribution of intensity levels [5]. This meshing process is used not only to control the accuracy
in the space of representation, but also to homogenize the occurrences of the electromagnetic
intensities through a spatial redistribution of intensity levels in respect to criterium of maximum
entropy distribution. This whole process assures the key to respect the maximum Shannon's
entropy and the statistical characteristics of randomness.